Maureen Dowd quoted Bill Maher’s description of Chris Christie as “350 pounds of toast,” in her article titled, “Christie puts the gloves on” in New York Times (February 22):
“I tend to agree with Bill Maher that Christie is “350 pounds of toast,” and that he should have run for president in 2012 when he had “that new candidate smell” because “the longer you stay in the more likely some bad thing will stick to you.”
The article of Daily KOS (February 15) titled “Bill Maher says Governor Christie is "350 pounds of toast" shows a cartoon of Chris Christie being toasted on toaster.
Cambridge English Dictionary simply defines ‘toast’ as; sliced bread made warm, crisp, and brown by being put near a high heat:
However, Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘toast’’ as a noun to mean a person or thing that is very popular or held in high regard by a particular group of people, beside the common notion of “sliced bread browned on both sides by exposure to radiant heat, such as a grill or fire.”
Does “toast’ have the meaning of a people being examined or grilled. What does “toast” here mean? “condemnation” or “praise”?