In a roasting position or manner; turned or positioned as if being roasted.
From the prefix 'a-' (Old English, meaning 'in' or 'on') combined with 'roast' (from Old French 'rostir'). The form emerged in Middle English to describe something in the state or position of roasting.
This archaic word shows how English once used 'a-' as a living prefix to turn nouns into descriptive adverbs—we see this same pattern in 'ablaze' and 'afire,' but most 'a-' words have faded from modern speech, leaving us with just a handful of frozen fossils.
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