(Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Chambers saysrule the roast was the original form.”)
ruletheroost (third-person singular simple presentrules the roost,present participleruling the roost,simple past and past participleruled the roost)
- (idiomatic) To be thecontrolling member(s) of afamily,organization, or other group.
1857,Anthony Trollope, chapter 3, inBarchester Towers:His was biding his time, and patiently looking forward to the days when he himself would sit authoritative at some board, and talk and direct, andrule the roost, while lesser stars sat round and obeyed.- Note: Some copies have "rule the roast" in this passage.
1915,John Galsworthy, chapter 16, inThe Freelands:Felix (nothing if not modern) had succumbed already to the feeling that youthruled the roost.
2004 February 16, Kate Betts, “9 Rei Kawakubo”, inTime:At that moment in fashion, French couturiersruled the roost.
2021 February 6, Graham Bean, “Scotland beat England at Twickenham for the first time in 38 years”, inThe Scotsman[1]:Finn Russell and Owen Farrell kicked two penalties apiece but it was the Scotland stand-off whoruled the roost - despite a ten-minute sin-binning for an attempted trip on England scrum-half Ben Youngs.
