toast

Etymology 1

From Middle English tost, from the verb tosten (see below). * (something that will be no more) Ad-libbed by actor Bill Murray in the 1984 film Ghostbusters (see quotation).

noun

1. (countable, uncountable) Toasted bread.
   I ate a piece of toast for breakfast.
   Tea was a very special institution, revolving as it did around the ceremony and worship of Toast. In [public schools] where alcohol, tobacco and drugs were forbidden, it was essential that something should take their place as a powerful and public totem of virility and cool. Toast, for reasons lost in time, was the substance chosen. 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, page 23
2. (countable) A proposed salutation (e.g. to say "cheers") while drinking alcohol.
   At the reception, there were many toasts from the well-wishers.
3. (countable) A person, group, or notable object to which a salutation with alcohol is made; a person or group held in similar esteem.
   He was the toast of high society.
   Josephine Baker did not become the toast of Paris by just shaking her booty for some theater gypsies as a party wound down. 2014-05-28, John McWhorter, “Saint Maya”, in The New Republic, →ISSN
4. (uncountable, slang, chiefly US) Something that will be no more; something subject to impending destruction, harm or injury.
   If I ever get my hands on the guy that stole my wallet, he’s toast!
   This chick is toast! The original line was: "I'm gonna turn this guy into toast." 1984, Ghostbusters, spoken by Peter Venkman (Bill Murray)
5. (countable, music, slang, Jamaica) A type of extemporaneous narrative poem or rap.
6. (countable, slang, obsolete) An old toast ("a lively fellow who drinks excessively").
7. (countable, computing, graphical user interface) A transient, informational unclickable pop-up overlay, less interactive than a snackbar.
   With the new Windows Push Notification Service, you can remotely send notifications from a cloud-based web service. In Windows 8, the majority of the Toast messages are standard duration toasts. 2012, Nick Lecrenski, Doug Holland, Allen Sanders, Professional Windows 8 Programming
8. (countable, obsolete outside India) A piece of toast.

Etymology 2

From Middle English tosten, from Old French toster (“to roast, grill”), from Latin tostus (“grilled, burnt”), from verb torreō (“to burn, grill”).

verb

1. To lightly cook by browning via direct exposure to a fire or other heat source.
   We liked to toast marshmallows around the campfire.
2. To grill, lightly cook by browning specifically under a grill or in a toaster
   Top with cheese and toast under the grill for a few minutes.
3. To engage in a salutation and/or accompanying raising of glasses while drinking alcohol in honor of someone or something.
   We toasted the happy couple many times over the course of the evening.
4. To warm thoroughly.
   I toasted my feet by the fire.
5. (music, slang, Jamaica) To perform extemporaneous narrative poem or rap.
   Toasting over a record does more than change the way that record is perceived by the audience: it creates a new piece of music with joint creative authorship, although the law does not support this characterization. 2014, Richard James Burgess, The History of Music Production, Oxford University Press, page 168