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.