What does toaster mean?
Toaster is a common English noun for an electrical appliance that heats and browns bread, especially slices placed in slots or on hinged racks. It is part of everyday household vocabulary in British and American English and can refer to small countertop models, larger toaster ovens, and similar appliances used in hotels, offices, and restaurants. The word can also have a historical occupational meaning: a person whose task was to toast bread. Today, that older sense is largely literary, while the appliance meaning dominates ordinary conversation. Toasters are especially associated with breakfast routines, but they are also used for reheating bread, bagels, and similar foods. The related words toast, toasted, and toasting preserve the same basic idea of heating food until its surface becomes brown and crisp. A toaster should not be confused with a toaster oven, which has greater cooking capacity and can prepare foods beyond ordinary toast.
nounAn electrical appliance with heated elements or plates used to brown slices of bread or other bread products. Historically, the word could also refer to a person who toasted bread.
- An electrical appliance for heating and browning slices of bread or other bread products.
- Historically, a person who toasted bread, especially one employed to perform that task.
"She put two slices of bread in the toaster before starting her morning meeting."
"The toaster was still warm when the family gathered around the breakfast table."
"The hotel breakfast area provides a four-slice toaster for guests."
The standard plural is toasters when referring to more than one toaster or appliance.
"The kitchen has two toasters, one for bread and one for bagels."
The appliance inherited an older word that originally meant a person who made toast, long before the familiar electric machine became common.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does toaster come from?
The word toaster is an English formation based on toast with the suffix -er, a term that can identify either the person performing an action or the device performing it. In its earlier use, toaster referred to a person who toasted bread; the mechanical appliance sense developed later and became the dominant modern meaning. The related forms toast, toasted, and toasting continue the same long-established vocabulary of heating bread until it is browned.
How toaster is actually used
In modern usage, toaster normally refers to a household appliance and is a count noun; the occupational sense is historical or literary. The word is used in both British and American English.
Easily confused with toaster
A toaster is designed mainly to brown bread, while a toaster oven is a small oven that can also bake or heat a wider variety of food.