rule the roost
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Be in charge or have control over a situation
Literally: a rooster dominating a farmyard
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
I kind of ruled the roost a bit, but we got on well.
Attractive, popular and smart, Veronica hovers in the orbit of the ‘ Heathers’, a four - girl clique who rule the roost at Westerburgh High.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “rule the roost” mean?
Be in charge or have control over a situation Literally: a rooster dominating a farmyard
Is “rule the roost” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.