toast

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun slices of bread that have been toasted
  2. noun a celebrity who receives much acclaim and attention
  3. noun a person in desperate straits; someone doomed

Etymology

From Middle English tost, from the verb tosten (see below). Sense 3 is according to the Oxford English Dictionary a figurative application of sense 1 dating to 1674. It began as an epithet for a lady being supposed to flavour a bumper like a spiced toast placed in that drink. (In this context, a bumper is a drinking vessel filled to the brim.)

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