From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Roach \Roach\, v. t.
1. To cause to arch.
[1913 Webster]
2. To cut off, as a horse's mane, so that the part left shall
stand upright.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Roach \Roach\, n. (Zool.)
A cockroach.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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. (Zool.)
(a) A European fresh-water fish of the Carp family
(Leuciscus rutilus). It is silver-white, with a
greenish back.
(b) An American chub (Semotilus bullaris); the fallfish.
(c) The redfin, or shiner.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Naut.) A convex curve or arch cut in the edge of a sail
to prevent chafing, or to secure a better fit.
[1913 Webster]
As sound as a roach [roach perhaps being a corruption of a
F. roche a rock], perfectly sound.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
roach
n 1: a roll of hair brushed back from the forehead
2: the butt of a marijuana cigarette
3: street names for flunitrazepan [syn: R-2, Mexican valium,
rophy, rope, roofy, roach, forget me drug,
circle]
4: any of numerous chiefly nocturnal insects; some are domestic
pests [syn: cockroach, roach]
5: European freshwater food fish having a greenish back [syn:
roach, Rutilus rutilus]
v 1: comb (hair) into a roach
2: cut the mane off (a horse)
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008) [foldoc]:
roach
<jargon> A Bell Labs term meaning destroy, especially of a
data structure. Hardware gets toasted or fried, software
gets roached.
[Why?]
[Jargon File]
(1999-02-08)
From Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) [jargon]:
roach
vt.
[Bell Labs] To destroy, esp. of a data structure. Hardware gets
toasted or fried, software gets roached. Probably derived from
'70s and '80s drug slang; marijuana smokers used `roach' to refer to
the unsmokable remnant of a joint, and to `roach' a joint was
therefore to destroy it.