unroost

The farmer unroosts the chickens at dawn.

Definition

1. Verb (transitive):
   • To prevent from roosting: "unroost" means to disturb or prevent birds (especially poultry) from settling or sleeping on a perch.
   • By extension: To deny someone a place to sleep or lodge for the night.

Usage Examples

• (He disturbed the chickens from their sleeping perch.)
• (He denied them lodging for the night.)

Advanced Usage

• "to unroost someone": to force someone out of their sleeping quarters or habitual resting place.
  • The landlord unroosted the tenants by locking the doors at midnight. (He prevented them from sleeping there.)

Variants and Related Words

• Roost (n): a perch where birds rest or sleep.
  • The hens settled on the roost at dusk. (The perch for sleeping.)
• Roost (v): to settle or rest on a perch for sleep.
  • The birds roost in the trees at night. (They sleep there.)
• Unroosted (adj): having been disturbed from a roost or denied lodging.
  • The unroosted chickens wandered in the yard. (They were prevented from sleeping.)

Synonyms

• Dislodge: to force out of a settled position.
• Evict: to expel someone from a property or place of rest.

Phrasal Verbs

• Unroost from: to remove from a roosting place.
  • The storm unroosted the birds from the branches. (The storm forced them off their perches.)

Related Idioms

• To come home to roost: (unrelated in meaning, but shares the root "roost") — to return to cause trouble or have consequences.
  • His lies eventually came home to roost. (His deception led to negative consequences for him.)