To rule the roast. To have the chief direction; to be paramount.
⁂ It is usually thought that “roast” in this phrase means roost, and that the reference is to a cock who decides which hen is to roost nearest to him; but the subjoined quotation favours the idea of “council.”
“John, Duke of Burgoyne, ruled the rost, and governed both KingCharles … and his whole realme.”—Hall: Union (1548).
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