From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishroostroost1 /ruːst/ noun [countable] HBBa place where birds rest and sleep → rule the roost at rule2(4)
Examples from the Corpus
roost• All are roost sites except Salthouse, where there was a nest and the pellets collected came mainly from the nestlings.• The others do not return, presumably traveling on to another, more distant roost.• In the meantime, it was Amelia who ruled the family roost.• Alongside the State, they continued to rule the roost.• The mid-fielders ruled the roost up to the interval, but after a scoreless first half the Antrim team showed great dominance.• As soon as the adventurers stop moving, the Harpies will swoop down from their roosts in the rock.• The ravens had returned to their roost in the pines and were noisily getting settled when I got back.• Table 2.2 Barn owl samples: nest site versus roost site.roostroost2 verb [intransitive] 1 HBBif a bird roosts, it rests or sleeps somewhere2 → somebody’s chickens come home to roost→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
roost• Eventually, of course, the chickens came home to roost.• The lessons of what it meant to be the formal authority were coming home to roost.• The chickens were free to roam this winter garden, although the sensible ones had gone to roost by now.• From daytime feeding grounds up to twenty miles away, they converge on Abbey Park to roost for the night.• Bryan now has an estimated 50,000 to 75,000 egrets roosting in nine parts of town.• Many traditionally fortean phenomena have since come to roost in the world of science.• They like roosting on telegraph poles.• The darkness of winter twilight was roosting on the land.Origin roost1 Old English hrost 