What is "roach"

Roach \Roach\, n. (Zo["o]l.) A cockroach.

Roach \Roach\, n. [OE. rroche; cf. AS. reohha, D. rog, roch, G. roche, LG. ruche, Dan. rokke ray, Sw. rocka, and E. ray a fish.]

1. (Zo["o]l.)

   1. A European fresh-water fish of the Carp family ( Leuciscus rutilus). It is silver-white, with a greenish back.

   2. An American chub ( Semotilus bullaris); the fallfish.

   3. The redfin, or shiner.

2. (Naut.) A convex curve or arch cut in the edge of a sail to prevent chafing, or to secure a better fit.

   As sound as a roach [roach perhaps being a corruption of a F. roche a rock], perfectly sound.

Roach \Roach\, v. t.

1. To cause to arch.

2. To cut off, as a horse's mane, so that the part left shall stand upright.

shortened form of cockroach, 1837, on mistaken notion that it was a compound. In contemporary writing said to be from a polite desire to avoid the sexual connotation in the first syllable. Meaning "butt of a marijuana cigarette" is first recorded 1938, perhaps from resemblance to the insect, but perhaps a different word entirely.

small freshwater fish, c.1200, from Old French roche (13c.), of uncertain origin, perhaps from a Germanic source. Applied to similar-looking fish in North America.

Etymology 1 n. 1 Certain members of the fish family Cyprinidae, including: 2 # Species in the genus ''Rutilus'', especially: 3 ## The (vern: common roach) (''Rutilus rutilus'') 4 # The (vern: California roach), of the monotypic genus (taxlink Hesperoleucus genus noshow=1) Etymology 2

n. 1 (context US English) A cockroach. 2 (context US slang smoking English) A butt of a marijuana cigarette. 3 (context UK slang smoking English) The filter of a rolled cigarette or joint, made from card or paper. 4 (context nautical English) An extra curve of material added to the leech edge of a sail to increase the sail area. 5 A kind of headdress worn by some of the indigenous peoples of North America.

1. n. the butt of a marijuana cigarette

2. street names for flunitrazepan [syn: R-2, Mexican valium, rophy, rope, roofy, forget me drug, circle]

3. any of numerous chiefly nocturnal insects; some are domestic pests [syn: cockroach]

4. European freshwater food fish having a greenish back [syn: Rutilus rutilus]

Roach may refer to:

Roach is an English/British surname derived from the Old French roche (rock), and may refer to:

A roach is the remains of a joint, blunt or roll up cigarette after most of it has been smoked. In Europe, the UK and most Commonwealth nations, the term is often used more specifically to refer to a short tube, commonly torn from a pack of rolling papers, that may be present in the unlit end of a joint. This hollow mouthpiece, customarily made of thin cardboard, is termed a "filter" in North America. It is commonly set in position during the rolling process, or may be inserted later. When the use of a roach is employed, a joint can still be held securely after it has burnt down to a short length; thus, the entire length of the joint may be smoked, without the aid of a roach clip.

Porcupine hair roaches are a traditional male headdress of a number of Native American tribes in what is now present-day New England, the Great Lakes and Missouri River regions, including the Potawatomi who lived where Chicago now stands. They were and still are most often worn by dancers at pow wows as regalia.

The porcupine hair roach is often made of guard hair of the porcupine, the tail hair of the white-tail deer, moose hair, or artificial stiff hair; often, the hair is dyed a bright color, such as red or yellow, which can symbolize a veteran of combat. Some roaches from the southern plains are made with black turkey beards.

The term roach also applies to the traditional Mohawk hairstyle worn by some warriors of some southern plains tribes such as the Pawnee and some Algonquin tribes, such as the Mohegan and Lenape. This is where their hair is shorn like a horse’s mane which was considered stylish in the 19th century. All their hair would be cut, save a strip down the middle of their head.

Present day, most roaches have evolved into separate headdresses. They are made from turkey beard hair, porcupine guard hair and deer-tail hair. Depending on where a tribe is from can determine what their headdress will look like. Typically, central and southern plains style their roaches with the front hairs standing straight up with only a gradual outward flare and are usually smaller in size. The northern plains style hair roach headdress typically have the hairs in front form horizontally outward and tend to be larger in size. Often, men would add bits of animal hair to the headdresses.