roster

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(rŏs'tər, rô'stər) pronunciation
n.
  1. A list, especially of names.
  2. A list of the names of military officers and enlisted personnel enrolled in a particular unit.

[Dutch rooster, gridiron, roster (from the ruled paper used for a roster), from roosten, to roast.]

WORD HISTORY   If we associate the roster of a football team with the word gridiron, it is not because the team's roster has the appearance of a football field. But etymologically at least a roster is a gridiron. Our word roster goes back to Dutch rooster, meaning "gridiron" (from the verb roosten, "to roast"), which was extended in sense to mean "a table, list." This extension was made because of the resemblance of a gridiron to a piece of paper divided by parallel lines that contains a list or table. (The application of gridiron to a football field is also based on similarity in appearance.) The earliest use in English (first recorded in 1727) for the word roster borrowed from Dutch was military, referring to a list or plan that outlined when officers, men, and bodies of troops should perform their turn of duty. Roster is no longer exclusively military in usage and can now be applied to members of a team scheduled to perform on the gridiron, baseball field, or other playing area.


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noun

    A series, as of names or words, printed or written down: catalog, list1, register, roll, schedule. See remember/forget.

n. a list or plan showing turns of duty or leave for individuals or groups in an organization: next week's duty roster.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Random House Word Menu:

categories related to 'roster'

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Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
For a list of words related to roster, see:
  • General Sports Terminology
  • Baseball - roster: the total number of players on the team; the limit of players who are allowed to appear in a game; during the regular season a major league team usually consists of 25 players


  See crossword solutions for the clue Roster.
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - tjenesteliste (mil.)
v. tr. - sætte på tjenesteliste

Nederlands (Dutch)
(namen)lijst, (programma)rooster

Français (French)
n. - liste, tableau de service
v. tr. - mettre sur une liste

Deutsch (German)
n. - Dienstplan
v. - in den Dienstplan eintragen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (μτφ.) λίστα, κατάλογος, κατάσταση (ονομάτων)
v. - γράφω σε κατάλογο

Italiano (Italian)
lista, elenco, registro

Português (Portuguese)
n. - lista (f)
v. - listar

Русский (Russian)
расписание, график, реестр

Español (Spanish)
n. - lista, rol
v. tr. - poner en una lista, enlistar

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - tjänstgöringslista
v. - lista

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
执勤人员表, 列入名册的人, 花名册, 把...列入名单

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 執勤人員表, 列入名冊的人, 花名冊
v. tr. - 把...列入名單

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 근무 명부, 명부, 등록부
v. tr. - 명부에 실리다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 勤務当番表, 名簿

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) جدول أو قائمه (فعل) يضع في جدول أو قائمه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮לוח תורנויות, רשימת תפקידים (במשחקי ספורט וכו')‬
v. tr. - ‮שם (מודעה) על לוח-התורנויות‬


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Mentioned in

The Concord Sound, Vol. 1 (1992 Album by Various Artists)
polling list (communications)
Blues Cocktail Party (1991 Album by Various Artists)