roost

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a perch on which a bird rests or sleeps

   At dusk, the hens returned to their roost in the old apple tree.

2. 2
   noun

   a place where birds or bats regularly settle to rest or sleep

   Thousands of starlings gathered at the communal roost before nightfall.

3. 3
   verb

   to settle somewhere in order to rest or sleep, especially on a perch

   The vultures roost together on the cliff ledges.

From Middle English roste, from Old English hrost, a wooden framework, roof structure, or perch. Cognates in Dutch and German also denote a roost, grate, or framework; the sense narrowed in English to a structure or place on which birds rest.

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