toast

1 of 3

noun

ˈtōst 

plural toasts

1

a

: sliced bread browned on both sides by heat

eggs and toast

buttered toast

b

: food prepared with toasted bread

avocado toast

cheese toast

… foie gras with tangy rhubarb, sweet strawberry and an accent of thyme was served with peanut butter toast.

—John Mariani

2

a

: an act of proposing a drink in honor of or of drinking in honor of someone or something

He proposed a toast to the newlyweds.

She stood up to make a toast.

… you must remember not to drain your glass on each toast.

—Oretha D. Swartz

b

: someone that is highly admired

She's the toast of society.

He was the toast of the town.

c(1)

archaic : a person who is honored with a drink and wishes for good health or prosperity

The remaining toasts were DOCTOR MELL; Mrs. MICAWBER (who gracefully bowed her acknowledgements from the side-door …), Mrs. RIDGER BEGS (late Miss Micawber) …

—Charles Dickens

(2)

: something in honor of which people usually drink : a sentiment that is drunk to

She was famed as the most beautiful girl in the country. Men of the army, men of the navy, and men of the Church, alike adored her. Her name was a toast from Monterey to San Diego.

—Helen Hunt Jackson

As Peter and the two remaining ladies raise their champagne glasses, Madison offers the toast: "Here's to seeing if love can conquer all."

—wbal.com

3

slang : someone or something that is finished or done for

Soon their relationship was toast.

—Rick Reilly

The Deep Space 2 probes are also aiming for a smooth, clear piece of Martian real estate. "If we hit a really big rock, we're toast," said Suzanne Smrekar, project scientist for Deep Space 2.

—Alexandra Witze

4

: an improvisational rhyming narrative poem or song of African American tradition that employs clever, ironic, bawdy, and irreverent language to salute or celebrate someone

toast

2 of 3

verb (1)

toasted; toasting; toasts

transitive verb

1

: to make (food, such as bread) crisp, hot, and brown by heat

2

: to warm thoroughly

intransitive verb

: to become toasted

especially : to warm thoroughly

toast

3 of 3

verb (2)

toasted; toasting; toasts

transitive verb

: to propose or drink to as a toast

Synonyms

Verb (1)

• heat
• hot (up) [chiefly Southern, southern Midland, & British]
• warm

Examples of toast in a Sentence

Noun

I had toast for breakfast.

He made a toast to the bride and groom.

Everyone drank a toast to the bride and groom.

Verb (1)

come over and toast your toes by the fire

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

This inviting shop is the go-to neighborhood wine bar where connections are fostered and toasts are made. —Chelsea Davis, Forbes, 19 Oct. 2024

The menu includes dishes such as toast and tinned fish, pate de campagne with grainy mustard and cornichons, and Siberian caviar service with crème fraiche, chives, and potato chips. —Tori Latham, Robb Report, 18 Oct. 2024

Warm your cranberry sauce and drizzle over pancakes, waffles and French toast. —Robin Miller, The Arizona Republic, 17 Oct. 2024

After several toasts from friends and family, the couple’s friend and DJ Marques Emanuel got the party started. —Elise Taylor, Vogue, 17 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English toste, toost, noun derivative of tosten "to toast entry 2"; (sense 2) noun derivative of toast entry 3

Note: The word toast in the sense "a person who is honored with a drink and wishes for good health or prosperity," with the accompanying verb "to propose or drink to (a person) as a toast," first appears in print at the very end of the seventeenth century. The conventional assumption is that the use is metaphorical, "the name of a lady being supposed to flavour a bumper like a spiced toast in the drink," as it is expressed in the Oxford English Dictionary, first edition. This is pure speculation, however, as the origin of the sense remains obscure. Two oft-quoted explanations appear in Richard steele's journal The Tatler, which appeared between April, 1709 and January, 1711. The first is in No. 24 (June 4, 1709), probably written by Joseph addison: "To know what a toast is in the country gives as much perplexity as she herself does in town: and indeed the learned differ very much upon the original of this word, and the acceptation of it among the moderns. … But many of the wits of the last age will assert that the word, in its present sense, was known among them in their youth, and had its rise from an accident in the town of Bath, in the reign of King Charles the Second. It happen'd, that on a publick day a celebrated beauty of those times was in the Cross Bath, and one of the croud of her admirers took a glass of the water in which the fair one stood, and drank her health to the company. There was in the place a gay fellow half fuddled who offered to jump in, and swore tho' he liked not the liquor, he would have the toast [alluding to a drink with toast dipped in it]. He was opposed in his resolution; yet this whim gave foundation to the present honour which is done to the lady we mention in our liquors, who has ever since been called a toast." Another allusion to an origin, in No. 31 (June 21, 1709) by Richard Steele, makes no mention of the earlier story: "Then, said he [a gentleman in the country unfamiliar with the word], why do you call live people toasts? I answered, that was a new name found out by the wits, to make a lady have the same effect as burridge [borage, used as a garnish or ingredient in cordials] in a glass, when a man is drinking." As both Addison and Steele were capable of mixing fact with invention, these anecdotes should probably not be taken too seriously.

Verb (1)

Middle English tosten "to darken by heat, crisp and darken bread by heat," borrowed from Anglo-French toster, tostir (also continental Old French), going back to Late Latin tostāre "to roast, grill," frequentative derivative of Latin torrēre, past participle tostus (going back to *tors(e)tos) "to heat so as to dry, scorch, parch, (of food) roast" — more at thirst entry 1

Verb (2)

derivative of toast entry 1 (sense 2c)

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb (1)

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 2

Verb (2)

1700, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing toast

• (as) warm as toast
• avocado toast
• be toast
• French toast
• melba toast
• propose a toast
• the toast of

Kids Definition

toast

1 of 3 verb

ˈtōst 

1

: to make crisp, hot, and brown by heat

toast bread

2

: to warm completely

toast

2 of 3 noun

1

: sliced toasted bread

2

a

: a person in whose honor other people drink

b

: a highly admired person

the toast of the town

3

: an act of drinking in honor of a person

toast

3 of 3 verb

: to suggest or drink to as a toast