the roaring game

Preserved but no longer current.

Meaning · English

So the Scots call the game of curling. Roast To roast a person is to banter him un- mercifully; also, to give him a dressing-down. Shakespeare, in Hamlet, speaks of roasting "in wrath and fire.

Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)

Sources & notes

Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.

Common questions

What does “the roaring game” mean?

So the Scots call the game of curling. Roast To roast a person is to banter him un- mercifully; also, to give him a dressing-down. Shakespeare, in Hamlet, speaks of roasting "in wrath and fire.

Is “the roaring game” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.