[roost] 
,| 1. | a perch upon which birds or fowls rest at night. |
| 2. | a large cage, house, or place for fowls or birds to roost in. |
| 3. | a place for sitting, resting, or lodging. |
| 4. | to sit or rest on a roost, perch, etc. |
| 5. | to settle or stay, esp. for the night. |
| 6. | come home to roost, (of an action) to revert or react unfavorably to the doer; boomerang: an evil deed that came home to roost and ruined his life. |
| 7. | rule the roost, to be in charge or control; dominate: It was only too apparent that his grandfather ruled the roost. |
| roost (rōōst) n.
To rest or sleep on or as if on a perch or roost. [Middle English rooste, from Old English hrōst.] |
To dominate; to be in charge: “Even though Sally has five older brothers, she still rules the roost.”
rule the roost
Be in charge, boss others, as in In our division the chairman's son rules the roost. This expression originated in the 15th century as rule the roast, which was either a corruption of rooster or alluded to the person who was in charge of the roast and thus ran the kitchen. In the barnyard a rooster decides which hen should roost near him. Both interpretations persisted for 200 years. Thomas Heywood (c. 1630) put it as "Her that ruled the roast in the kitchen," but Shakespeare had it in 2 Henry VI (1:1): "The new-made duke that rules the roast," which is more ambiguous. In the mid-1700s roost began to compete with roast, and in the 1900s roost displaced roast altogether. Also see run the show.