toaster

Etymology

It is formed from English toast + -er,^[2][3][4][5] first as an agent noun from the verb meaning "to brown with heat".^[3] The person who drinks or proposes a toast is from the verb of drinking to someone's health,^[3][2][4] and the reggae performer from the verb for chanting over records.^[2] The verb toast is from Middle English tosten,^[3][5] from Old French toster (“to toast, grill”),^[3][5] from Late Latin tostō (“to roast”),^[5] which Etymonline calls Vulgar Latin, from tostus, the past participle of torreō (“to dry, parch”),^[5][3] from Proto-Indo-European *ters- (“to dry”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who toasts something by the fire: 1582, in Richard Stanyhurst's translation of Virgil.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1580s^[3] and Merriam-Webster to 1582.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From 1695 the word was used of an implement for toasting, a toasting-fork, and humorously of a rapier.^[2] From 1702 a toaster was also someone who proposes or joins in a drinking toast,^[2] a sense Johnson (1755) gave as "he who toasts", quoting Prior's "We simple toasters take delight".^[6] The electric appliance for toasting bread is recorded from 1913,^[2][3] and the toaster oven by 1957.^[3] In the 1970s the word gained new senses from African-American and Jamaican speech: a reciter of rhyming narrative toasts (1974), and in reggae a DJ who chants or talks rhythmically over a record (1976).^[2][7][5] In US slang it has also meant a flamethrower.^[7]

Timeline

• 1582 – a person who toasts something by the fire.^[2][5]
• 1695 – a toasting-fork; humorously, a rapier.^[2]
• 1702 – a person who proposes or joins in a toast.^[2] Etymonline dates this use by 1704.^[3]
• 1845 – a bread or cheese that toasts well or badly.^[2]
• 1913 – an electric appliance for toasting bread.^[2][3]
• 1974 – a reciter of a narrative toast.^[2]
• 1976 – in reggae, a DJ who chants over a rhythm track.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An electric appliance for making toast, usually with slots into which slices of bread are put: She dropped two slices into the toaster.^[8][5][9]
2. A person or thing that toasts bread or other food, such as a toasting fork.^[5][4][2]
3. A person who proposes or drinks a toast to someone; a toastmaster.^[5][4][2]
4. A reggae DJ or performer who chants or talks rhythmically over recorded music.^{[9][10][2][7]}

Word family

• toaster oven

Related words

• toast
• torrid
• thirst
• toastmaster

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press