May 15, 2003

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.

Posted by Jargon File at May 15, 2003 10:32 AM

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