roach

Everyday

1. (USA, Canada, informal) A cockroach: a flat brown insect that runs fast and lives in dirty kitchens and warm places. tree →
2. A small silver freshwater fish with reddish eyes and fins, common in rivers, lakes and canals in Britain and Europe. tree →
3. (slang) The end of a cannabis cigarette; drug slang, not a word for school. tree →

In the lessons

In North America «roaches» is the everyday word for cockroaches, pests that spread germs, so keeping food covered and kitchens clean is a health lesson. In Britain and Ireland a roach is a fish that anglers catch in rivers and canals, the kind of fish that swims in the river in The Wind in the Willows. Cockroaches are also a science fact: they are very tough insects with six legs.

Examples

• (USA) We saw a roach run under the fridge. tree →
• Keep food in boxes so roaches don't get in. tree →
• Grandad caught a roach in the canal. tree →
• The roach has a silver body and red eyes. tree →
• Roach and perch swam in the clear river. tree →
• Cockroaches, or roaches, have six legs like all insects. tree →
• The exterminator came to get rid of the roaches. tree →
• Well, one Sunday morning he was fishing as usual, and not a salmon had risen to him, his basket was bare of roach or dace. tree →

Note

Short for cockroach in North America; in the UK say cockroach for the insect. Plural for the insect: roaches; for the fish: roach or roaches. The myth that cockroaches would be the only survivors of anything is exaggerated.