roach
pronunciation
How to pronounce roach in British English:
UK [rəʊtʃ]
How to pronounce roach in American English:
US [roʊtʃ]
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- Noun:
- the butt of a marijuana cigarette
- street names for flunitrazepan
- any of numerous chiefly nocturnal insects; some are domestic pests
- European freshwater food fish having a greenish back
Word Origin
- roach
- roach: see cockroach
- roach (n.1)
- shortened form of cockroach, 1837, on mistaken notion that it was a compound. In contemporary writing said to be from a polite desire to avoid the sexual connotation in the first syllable. Meaning "butt of a marijuana cigarette" is first recorded 1938, perhaps from resemblance to the insect, but perhaps a different word entirely.
- roach (n.2)
- small freshwater fish, c. 1200, from Old French roche (13c.), of uncertain origin, perhaps from a Germanic source. Applied to similar-looking fish in North America.
Example
- 1. Let 's start with the roach .
- 2. And roach droppings , while almost invisible , can trigger serious respiratory problems .
- 3. Stephen roach , managing director of morgan stanley asia , worries that democratic concerns about middle-class wages could lead to china-bashing .
- 4. Not since the age of dinosaurs has the world known a roach with a vertical leap .
- 5. Paranoia about cleanliness has already risen to the point that sterile modern living can make people sick by weakening their immune systems . The odd night in a roach motel might even do some people a bit of good .