▪ I. oast
(əʊst)
Forms: α. 1 ást, (4 a nost), 4–9 ost, 4–7 host(e, 6 oste, 7 oost, 8 oust, 6– oast. β. 5 est, 7 east, eest.
[OE. ást, corresp. to MLG. eist, Du. eest, formerly also eist:—OTeut. *aisto-z from *aiđto-z, f. root aidh, weak grade idh, iđ, aiđ (Skr. idh) to burn, whence also OE. ád, OHG. eit blazing pile, funeral pyre, and, outside Teut., L. ædes, OLat. aidis hearth, house, æstus heat, æstās summer, Gr. αἶθος heat, Irish aedh heat. Oast is the native form; est, eest, east, introduced from Flanders.]
1. † a. orig. = kiln. b. Later, A kiln for drying malt or hops, now spec. for drying hops.
| c 1050 Suppl. ælfric's Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 185/30 Siccatorium, cyln, uel ast. 1380 Anc. Deeds C. 364 (Pub. Rec. Office), [Grant by John Haddele of a cottage, &c. to Peter atte Hacche, near] ‘les lymhostes’. ? c 1390 Form of Cury in Warner Antiq. Culin. 4 Take benes and dry hem in a nost or in an ovene. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 457 Wel derk & fer from ostis, bath & stable. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 9 b, A Brewhouse with an Oast for drying of Malt. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 150 To contain..the hair of your Oost or Kiln, or a Blanket tacked round the same about the edges. 1710 Act 9 Anne c. 13. §8 No Person..shall..make use of any Oust Storehouse or other Place or of any Kiln for curing or keeping of Hops. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. (1807) II. 242 It is necessary to keep the oast or kiln constantly at work. 1881 Whitehead Hops 24 Oasts and other buildings must be built. |
2. Comb. oast-cloth, oast-haire (see quot. 1861); oast-house, a building containing a kiln for drying hops; also the whole structure composing a kiln.
| 1410 in Rogers Agric. & Prices III. 546/2 *Hoste cloth. 1462 Ibid. 556/2 Ostcloth. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 153 On this Bed, without any Oost-cloth, lay your Hops by Basket-fulls. 1861 Illustr. Times 5 Oct. 221 Covered with the oastcloth, a sort of haircloth blanket, on which the hops are laid to dry. |
| 1668 Canterb. Marriage Licences (MS.), Robert Joy of S. Peter in Thanet, *hosthair weaver. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 252 The square above, immediatly supporting the Oast-hair and the Mault. |
| 1764 Museum Rusticum I. 3 These pokes [of hops] are..carried..to the *oust-house, where the hops are to be dried. 1882 K. Lee West. Wildfl. I. 140 He passed to a rick-yard and oast-house beyond. |
▪ II. oast, oastess(e
obs. forms of host, hostess n.