roster

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch rooster (“gridiron, table, list”), from Middle Dutch roosten (“to roast”). More at roast.

noun

1. A list of individuals or groups, usually for an organization of some kind such as military officers and enlisted personnel enrolled in a particular unit; a muster roll; a sports team, with the names of players who are eligible to be placed in the lineup for a particular game; or a list of students officially enrolled in a school or class.
   I'm number 12 on the roster for tonight's game.
   Its 50 H-7 2-8-8-2's (30 of which found their way onto the Union Pacific roster in 1945) were simple mainly because a tunnel in the Alleghenies would not accommodate the low-pressure cylinders of any Mallet larger than a 2-6-6-2. 1959, David P. Morgan, editor, Steam's Finest Hour, Kalmbach Publishing Co., page 60, referring to the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway
   As everyone knows, almost all booked passenger and freight trains are diagrammed into rosters for engines and men, and in an operating Utopia everything would work out daily according to plan. 1962 August, G. Freeman Allen, “Traffic control on the Great Northern Line”, in Modern Railways, page 131
   [So many of] the crew, men and officers alike, read them as to make me feel safe in asserting unreservedly that the Nathan James numbered in her company more Turgenev scholars than any other vessel on the United States Navy's entire roster of ships. 2013, William Brinkley, The Last Ship, Penguin, page 132
   The result was that trains ran as normal on November 7 and 9, although there was still disruption on Saturday November 5, owing to the short notice as rosters were hurriedly rewritten. Rosters are typically agreed a week in advance. November 16 2022, Mel Holley, “Network News: Rail strikes halted to allow for "intensive negotiations"”, in RAIL, number 970, page 8
2. A list of the jobs to be done by members of an organization and often with the date/time that they are expected to do them.
   The secretary has produced a new cleaning roster for the Church over the remainder of the year.
3. A schedule or timetable setting out shift times and dates for each employee of a business.
   Before uni starts check your work roster with your uni schedule to make sure there are no clashes with your classes. 2017-02-22, “5 things all supermarket workers should know before uni starts”, in SDA
4. (mathematics) A bracketed list that shows the elements of a set.

verb

1. (transitive) To place the name of (a person) on a roster.
   I have rostered you for cleaning duties on the first Monday of each month.
   New York Central rostered literally hundreds of engine subclassifications in contrast to the Spartan simplicity of Pennsy's ranks. 1959, David P. Morgan, editor, Steam's Finest Hour, Kalmbach Publishing Co., pages 18–19
   C. J. Boocock, "The organisation of Eastleigh Locomotive Works", pages 160-161: After speedy repairs, No. 35018 worked the train successfully for several days and was then rostered to the 7.20 a.m. Eastleigh-Waterloo. "Motive Power Miscellany", page 184: The Guildford-Havant and Alton lines were also employed for Waterloo-Bournemouth and Weymouth traffic; some expresses diverted via the former route had to be re-rostered for light Pacifics, as the "Merchant Navy" class is barred from the Netley line. 1961 March, Trains Illustrated
2. (transitive, mathematics) To show the elements of a set by listing them inside brackets.