ˈroughage
[f. rough a. + -age.]
1. The less useful or refuse part (of crops); rough grass or weeds. dial., U.S. and N.Z.
| 1883 Encycl. Amer. I. 98 The ‘roughage’ of crops has been neglected, the entire straw and stalks being burned. 1890 Glouc. Gloss., Roughage, rubbish; the clearings off the land or out of ditches would be so called. 1940 E. C. Studholme Te Waimate x. 80 The first work of the settlers was to burn off the roughage on large areas of country. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Feb. 122/3 On much of the country a fairly high proportion of cattle to sheep is carried, the cattle being used largely to clean up roughage left by the sheep. |
2. a. The indigestible fibrous matter or cellulose in vegetable foodstuffs. Also attrib.
| 1927 Lancet 16 July 106/1, I suspect that the advocacy of this bread was begun on the ground that the extra cellulose which it contains, forming what has been termed ‘roughage’, is of advantage as a mechanical irritant to the mucous membrane of the colon. 1932 Times Lit. Suppl. 7 Jan. 1/3 French art has had in the past its extra-artistic responsibilities, its burdens and entanglements, leading to the presence in the work of art of what corresponds to ‘roughage’ in food. 1948 Good Housek. Cookery Bk. 13 Much constipation is due to insufficient quantities of roughage in the diet. 1963 Times 4 Feb. 4/7 Roughage diets. 1976 Which? Nov. 244/3 Wholemeal bread is a simple and effective source of roughage. |
b. fig.
| 1931 Musical Times Jan. 74/1 This was another of the oddities that we have to accept as roughage to the Hallé [orchestra] fare. 1948 C. S. Lewis Lit. & Life 58 There is no roughage in a Kipling story—it is all unrelieved vitamins from the first word to the last. 1962 [see funk n.2 2]. 1963 Punch 23 Jan. 141/3 Twelve months in jail provided the roughage for his first book. 1974 Times 28 Feb. 15/3 The electorate..finally gagged on their traditional roughage of internecine strife. |