▪ I. rough, n.1
(rʌf)
Forms: 3 ruhe, 4 roȝ, 5, 7 roughe, 6– rough, 9 ruff; Sc. 6, 9 rouch, 9 roch.
[f. rough a.]
I. 1. The roughness or rough surface of something. rare—1.
| 12.. Ancr. R. 184 (Titus MS.), He is þi file, þet lorimers habben, & fileð awei al..ti ruhe of sunne. |
2. a. Rough or broken ground.
| c 1480 Henryson Mor. Fab., Wolf & Wether viii, He wald chace thame baith throw rouch & snod. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 948 So eagerly the fiend..through strait, rough, dense, or rare,..pursues his way. 1799 Wordsw. Lucy Gray xvi, O'er rough and smooth she trips along. 1821 Shelley Hellas 646 To light us to the edge Through rough and smooth. |
b. A stretch of rough ground;
esp. a steep bank or slope covered with undergrowth or trees; a coppice. Now
local.
| 1600 Holland Livy xxviii. ii. 668 A mountaine countrey it was, full of roughs and crags. 1621 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. i. (1626) 13 These roughs are craggy: moderate thy haste. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 331 Rough, the rough Coppice. Wood, or Brushy-wood. 1736 Pegge Kenticisms (E.D.S.), Rough, a wood. c 1811 Jane Austen Let. in Pearson's 81st Catal. (1900) 6 We walked Frank last night to Crixhall ruff, and he appeared much edified. 1841 Hartshorne Salop. Antiq. Gloss. 551 Rough, a wood or copse. 1878 Jefferies Gamekeeper at H. ii. 31 This mere boy at snap-shooting in the ‘rough’ will beat crack sports⁓men hollow. |
c. The rough ground at the edge of, or between the greens on, a golf-course.
| 1901 Scotsman 9 Sept. 4/7 Thanks to Vardon having pulled into the rough, the Scotsman secured the sixteenth [hole]. 1955 [see bunker n.1 4]. 1971 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Doctor Bird iii. 29, I played well that morning, and the two balls I shot into the rough I recovered. 1977 Cork Examiner 6 June 7/2 At the 13th, Higgins was in the rough off the tee. 1980 Guardian 10 June 25/3 A spectator found another in the left rough and Cisco found the other in the right rough. |
3. A spike inserted in each heel of a horseshoe in ‘roughing’ horses to prevent slipping.
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 770/1 If this steel rough be made to fit the hole exactly, it remains firm in its place. |
4. Comm. A particular make of linen.
| 1890 Daily News 20 Dec. 2/5 Flax and Linen... Roughs and drills are going off steadily. |
II. † 5. a. Roughness (of the sea).
Obs.—1| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 144 Fysches Durst nowhere for roȝ arest at þe bothem. |
† b. A spell of stormy weather.
Obs.| 1633 P. Fletcher Pisc. Eclog. i. xviii, In calms, to pull the leaping fish to land—In roughs, to sing and dance along the golden sand. Ibid. vii. xxxii, In calms you fish; in roughs use songs and dances. |
6. a. The rough, disagreeable part, side, or aspect of anything; that which is harsh or unpleasant; rough treatment, hardship.
| 1642 Howell For. Trav. (Arb.) 86 In the rough of their fury the greatest execration they use to rap out, is [etc.]. 1725 Vanbrugh Prov. Wife iv. iii, Justice... Does he not use you well? Sir John. A little upon the rough sometimes. 1801 M. Edgeworth Contrast Wks. 1832 V. 134 His new foreman bore the rough well. 1861 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. clvii. III. 164 When he is brought into court, and trailed through all the rough of calling a spade a spade. 1893 C. G. Leland Memoirs I. 31 When doing rough and tough in West Virginia. |
b. Used in contrast to
smooth. Also
pl.| 1612 Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 126, I truly delivered as well the rough as the smooth of all my speech. 1822 Irving Bracebr. Hall (1890) 147 Through the rough and the smooth, the pleasant and the adverse. 1829 Sir T. Lawrence in D. E. Williams Life (1831) II. 519 The boys..must encounter the rough and the smooth of weather, as of life. 1900 J. K. Jerome Three Men on Bummel 190 One must take a little rough with one's smooth. |
| pl. 1804 Europ. Mag. XLV. 334/1 In this manner had Blair and his horse Pocket..travelled, and taken the roughs and the smooths of the world together. 1862 Thackeray Philip ix, You and I will take..the roughs and the smooths of this daily existence. |
c. The heavier, rougher part of housework;
freq. in
phr. to do the rough.
| 1946 M. Dickens Happy Prisoner vii. 114 Cosy discussions on clothes and curtains and women to do the rough. 1950 J. Cannan Murder Included iii. 39 He..suggested having a woman for the rough. 1959 Times 21 Nov. 1/3 No cooking or rough. 1974 ‘A. Gilbert’ Nice Little Killing v. 70 The woman who came to do the rough twice a week. |
d. Sharp, acid, or harsh drink;
spec. (
a)
slang, draught bitter beer; (
b) rough cider.
| 1946 J. Irving Royal Navalese 147 ‘Rough’, draught bitter beer. 1960 ‘R. East’ Kingston Black xiii. 129 He was selling the rough at three shillings a gallon. |
7. A man or lad inclined to commit acts of violence or disorder in public; a rowdy.
| 1837 Barham in Life & Lett. (1870) II. 39 There'll be lots of new policemen, To control the rogues and roughs. 1847 Illustr. Lond. News 27 Nov. 339/1 Will you let the jury know what ‘Roughs’ are? I believe it is an electioneering name for ruffians. 1853 Croker Papers (1884) III. 268 To be stoned by some of the thousand roughs with which the accesses to Parliament will be thronged. 1883 Ld. R. Gower Reminisc. II. 108 She is educating and civilising a little colony there of roughs and vagabonds. |
8. colloq. Short for
rough-rider.
| 1899 Daily News 23 Feb. 6/2 The Roughs swore by Roosevelt. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 17 July 8/1 The ‘Roughs’ and the ‘Sharps’ of the 18th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry. |
III. 9. a. Rough or refuse matter in the working of minerals.
Cf. row n.5 2.
| 1677 A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 59 In the Forest of Deane..iron is made at this day of Cinders, being the rough and offal thrown by in the Romans time. 1778 Pryce Min. Cornub. 223 The rough that is carried back with the stream, by drawing it over again, may be rendered merchantable at a lower rate than the crop; and the rough of this rough, is thrown aside to make leavings. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 1244 The ore, on issuing, deposits its rough in the first basin. 1875 J. H. Collins Met. Mining 111 Material of a mixed nature, called ‘dredge’, or ‘roughs’, or ‘rows’. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Roughs,..coarse, poor sands, resulting from tin-dressing. 1887 P. M'Neill Blawearie 174 Then it was indeed difficult to detect the foul from the roughs of the main coal. |
b. Agric. (See
quot. 1853.)
| 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 267 A second woman is required to riddle the roughs from the foul spout into a heap by itself. 1853 Encycl. Brit. II. 282/2 The unthrashed ears and broken straw called roughs or shorts. |
c. Applied to alum used as an adulterant in bread.
| 1855 2nd Rep. Comm. on Adulteration of Food 47 in Parl. Papers 1854–5 VIII. 373 There are several trade names for alum; one of them, being very characteristic of its effects on the mucous surface, is ‘roughs’, and another is ‘seasoning’. 1909 Practitioner Feb. 263 All the samples of bread contained alum, and an instance was mentioned of flour, with which as much as ten per cent. had been mixed... In the trade, the adulterant received the name of ‘roughs’. |
10. a. A rough draft. Also, a rough sketch, layout, etc.
| 1699 S. Sewall Diary 23 Sept., Agree for 15l. and draw a rough of it and take his hand to it. 1710 in Publ. Colonial Soc. Mass. (1925) XV. 395 A rough of sundry Articles ws drawn up. 1796 J. Steele Papers (1924) I. 144 A rough of a letter which may at some future period compose part of a circular. 1936 Punch 12 Aug. 170/2, I don't suggest for a moment that these are finished ideas. They are no more than artists' roughs. 1961 Webster, 2Rough,..4d rough proof. 1970 R. K. Kent Lang. Journalism 114 Rough, a preliminary layout or drawing, without details. 1975 J. Butcher Copy-Editing iv. 48 Alterations to artwork are caused as often by authors' inadequate or incorrect roughs..as they are by draughtsmen's mistakes. 1976 Vogue 15 Mar. 24/1 The roughs of my column are completed. |
b. The rough state or material of anything; the rough outline of a spoon, etc.; hence
rough-maker.
| 1799 Repertory Arts X. 295 How, by means of a rotative saw, to shape a piece from the rough. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 413/2 The ‘rough-maker’..smooths off the burr left by the stamp, strikes up finally the under side, and bends down the little curve at the end of the handle. |
c. Unhusked rice; paddy. (
Cf. rough a. 21.)
| 1837 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 54 An Improved Mortar for Dressing Rough or Paddy, or Redressing. |
d. Uncut precious stone; an uncut gem,
esp. a diamond.
| 1920 in Webster. 1961 in Webster s.v., A huge piece of rough was cut to a superb gem of 128 carats. 1974 L. St. Clair Emerald Trap (1975) i. 6, I want lots of big roughs. Finsch, Top Wesselton, maybe some Jaeger. 1976 W. Greatorex Crossover 162 No thefts of rough have been reported, so I suppose they're clean? |
11. in the rough:
a. In a rough, imperfect, or unfinished state; in a preliminary sketch or design.
| 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 159 Every kind of surface is first formed in the rough, and then finished by means of tools. 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. ii. xvi. §4 (1876) 259 We must never forget that the truths of political economy are truths only in the rough. 1879 B. Taylor Germ. Lit. 99 An unlettered minstrel, with great qualities in the rough. |
b. In an untidy state; in disorder; in an everyday condition.
| 1825 Mrs. Cameron Seeds of Greediness 3 ‘We are all in the rough to-day, Sir,’ answered the woman; ‘for I am very busy with this job’. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxxiii, ‘You'll have a party?’ said Crimple. ‘No, I won't,’ I said; ‘he shall take us in the rough’. 1865 ― Mut. Fr. ii. i, I wish you'd come with me, and take her in the rough, and judge her for yourself. |
c. Approximately, roughly.
| 1868 Rogers Pol. Econ. iii. (1876) 29 In the rough, it may be said that the cost of producing a pound Troy of gold [etc.]. |
▪ II. † rough, n.2 Obs. Forms: 2
ruhha,
roche (?), 3
rohȝe, 5
rowhe,
rowe,
rowghe, 6
roughe.
[? late OE. ruhha, ME. type roȝe, = MDu. roch(e, rochghe, rogghe (Du. rog, Fris. roch), MLG. roche, ruche (hence Da. rokke, Sw. rocka), G. roche, † roch. Obscurely related to OE. reohhe reigh.] The fish called the
ray.
| c 1110 in Napier Contrib. O.E. Lex. 60 Fannus, suhha [? read ruhha]. a 1200 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 543 Fannus, ro(che). c 1275 Lay. 29557 Hii..nemen rohȝe tayl..and honge[de on h]is cope. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 438/1 Rowhe, or reyhe, fysche (K. rowe-fysshe, P. rowghe), ragadies. 1530 Palsgr. 264/1 Roughe fysshe. |
▪ III. rough obs. var. of
ruff (the fish); see also
roughy.
▪ IV. rough, a. (
rʌf)
Forms: (see below).
[OE. r{uacu}h, r{uacu}ᵹ-, = Fris. rûch (pl. rûge), † ruwg, MDu. ruuch (rugh-), ruych (Du. ruig), MLG. rûch, rûge (LG. rûg; hence Da. † rug), OHG. ruuh, rûh, rûch, ruoch (G. rauh). Varying notation of the vowel and final guttural gives rise to a large number of spellings in ME. In OE. the stem r{uacu}ᵹ- also appears (by a normal change) as r{uacu}w-, whence ME. and later row a.] A. Forms.
(
α) 1–3
ruh (1
hruh, 3
ruhh), 3
ruhe,
ruchȝe, 1, 4, 6, 8
Sc. ruch, 5
Sc. reucht, 6
Sc. rwch; 4
roh,
rohu,
rohw, 5–7
Sc. roche, 6
Sc. rocht, 5, 8–9
Sc. roch; 5
rouh,
rowh, 5–9
Sc. rouch, 6
Sc. rouche,
rowch; 6
routh,
rowth.
| c 1000 Saxon Leechdoms III. 170 Þæt he habbe ruh lic. a 1100 in Napier O.E. Glosses 3250 Nodosi cippi, ruches..stocces. Ibid. 5189 Hirsutas lanas, hruhᵹe wulla. c 1200 Ormin 9663 Ruhh & harrd & sharrp. 12.. Ancr. R. 184 (MS. C.), Of þi ruchȝe sunnen. 13.. Cursor M. 21962 (Edin.), Þe toþir sal be ful ruch and reþe. c 1450 Holland Howlat 616 The rouch Wodwyss wyld. 1477 Paston Lett. III. 186 Fixid so fast with hys prikks rowh. 1523 Skelton Garl. Laurel 803 Florisshyng of flowris, With burris rowth. c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) v. 58 Quhair the gait is ruch. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 28 A rouch rock or craig. 17.. Ramsay Vision ii, The air grew ruch. 1808 Jamieson s.v., A rouch hass, or throat. 1872 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb viii, Your fader—the roch dyker. |
(
β) 1
ruᵹ, 3–5
ruȝ(e, 5
ruȝhe; 4
roȝ(e; 4–5
rouȝ,
rowȝ(e, 5
rouȝe.
| ? a 1000 Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 243 Ᵹeþuf ficbeam,..uel ruᵹ. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1545 Þe honde..rasped on þe roȝ woȝe. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xxv. 25 And al in maner of a skyn rowȝ. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxiii. (Bodl. MS.), Ȝif þey been rouȝe and..brode. a 1425 Cursor M. 21962 (Trin.), Þe toþer shal be wondir rowȝe. |
(
γ) 4
rug(g, 4–7 (9
Sc.)
rugh (5
rughh,
rught); 4–6
rughe (4
rughȝe, 6
ruyghe); 4–6
rogh(e, 5
roght; 4–5
rowgh, 5–6
rowghe; 5– 7
roughe (5
rought), 4–
rough.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 3489 Þe first..was rogh as hare,..He þat was rugh was rede wit-als. 13.. Ibid. 24838 (Edin.), Þe wedir..bigan be rug and reþe. a 1340 Hampole Psalter lxviii. 14 Wiþ þe haire þat is rughe & sharpe. c 1400 Destr. Troy 6632 With a rught batell. c 1400 Mandeville xxviii. (1839) 285 Thei beren gret Wolle and roughe. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 437/2 Rowghe, scharp or knotty. 1495 Trevisa's De P.R. iv. iii. 82 The thynge is rough. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 45 The bodye..beyng a rough stone. |
(
δ) 6
rouf,
roffe, 6–7
ruffe, 7–8
ruff.
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 28 b, The blades of both kindes are ruffe. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 20 Winds and ruff Seas. 1683 Pettus Fleta Minor i. (1686) 9 It was ruffe and sharp. a 1738 Swift To Dr. Sheridan 12 Compar'd with which..A Smoothing-Ir'n itself is ruff. 1787 Minor 53 Saw away the ruff corners of your mind. |
B. Signification.
I. 1. a. Having a surface diversified with small projections, points, bristles, etc., so as to be harsh or disagreeable to the touch; not even or smooth.
| a 1000 Riddles xxvi. 5 Staþol min is steap,..neoþan ruh nathwær. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 254 Ðeos wyrt..hafað leaf neah swycle mistel; þa beoð ruᵹe & brade. a 1225 Ancr. R. 284 Nis þet iren acursed þet iwurðeð þe swarture & þe ruhure so hit is ofture & more iviled? 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1724 Þe fyste..rasped renyschly þe woȝe with þe roȝ penne. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Kt. 745 Þe hasel & þe haȝþorne..With roȝe raged mosse rayled ay-where. a 1400–50 Alexander 3815 Þai..findis all þe strandis Full of Redis..rughere þan thornes. c 1460 Wisdom 1055 in Macro Plays 70 Tyll þi nakyde body were all rought, Ande evyn rent to þe bonys bare. 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 453 Whan the noppe is rughe, it wolde be shorne. 1553 Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 16 Theyr skinne is very rowghe and full of chappes, and riftes like the barke of a tree. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 342 Fruit of all kindes, in coate, Rough, or smooth rin'd. 1670 in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. V. 15 The silke..will soone grow rough, gather dust and sullie. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) III. 221 The tongue is rough, and beset with prickles. 1781 Cowper Retirement 230 Rough elm, or smooth-grain'd ash, or glossy beech. 1820 Shelley Prometh. Unb. iii. iii. 21 The rough walls are clothed with long soft grass. 1873 J. Richards Operator's Hdbk. 135 The lumber is guided by its rough surface before coming in contact with the cutters. |
b. Of cloth: Coarse; having a long nap.
| a 1000 Ags. Hymn. (Surtees) 103 Ruhne wæfels, yrcum tegimen. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 125 Amphibalum, ruhhræᵹel. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 17168 Off rowh frese, she hadde..A garnement shape lyk a sak. 1530 Palsgr. 322/2 Roughe as course clothe is, rude. 1611 Bible Zech. xiii. 4 Neither shall they weare a rough garment to deceiue. 1648 Hexham ii, Rouw laken, Rough, or Course cloth. 1848 J. Ruskin Let. 29 June in M. Lutyens Ruskins & Grays (1972) xiii. 123, I beg very particular thanks for the Rough towels. 1886 C. D. Warner Their Pilgr. 3 A gentleman clad in a perfectly-fitting rough travelling suit. 1939 Army & Navy Stores Catal. 623/1 ‘Christy’ bath towels rough brown linen pile... ‘Christy’ bath towels in mixed linen and cotton..a semi-rough towel for hard wear. |
c. a rough bone, one with meat on it.
Sc.| 1826 Scott Woodst. xx, A hungry tyke ne'er minds a blaud with a rough bane. |
d. Applied to the surface of a tennis- or squash-racket on which the loops formed by the string(s) looped around others project;
freq. in context of spinning a racket to decide the choice of service or ends. Opp.
smooth a. 1 d.
| 1890 [see smooth a. 1 d]. 1911 C. H. B. Quennell in L. Weaver House & its Equipment 204 It spoils the game if, as a result of guessing ‘rough’ or ‘smooth’ [etc.]. 1973 M. Russell Double Hit xxv. 186 Nevil spun his racket. ‘Smooth,’ said Colleano. ‘Rough. I'll serve.’ |
e. Bacteriol. Applied to a bacterial phenotype characterized by corrugated and irregular colonies, and by cells lacking polysaccharide capsules.
| [1920: see R. II. 2 a.] 1921 J. A. Arkwright in Jrnl. Path. & Bacteriol. XXIV. 38 The irregularity of the surface has led to this variant being called the Rough (‘R’) form in distinction from the Smooth (‘S’) form. 1949 L. R. Thompson Introd. Microorganisms viii. 106 Rough (R-type) colonies are characterized by a dull appearance, and a folded or uneven surface. 1974 Q. N. Myrvik et al. Fund. Med. Bacteriol. & Mycol. ii. 25 When freshly isolated gram-negative pathogens are cultivated in the laboratory, they often undergo a smooth to rough (S→R) colony mutation. |
2. a. Having the skin covered with hair; hairy, shaggy, hirsute. In later use
spec. unclipped, unshorn; having a rough coat of hair.
| c 1000 ælfric Gen. xxvii. 11 Esau min broður ys ruh and ic eom smeðe. a 1225 St. Marher. 12 [She] sette hire fot uppon his ruhe necke. a 1250 Owl & Night. 1013 Hi goþ bi-tiȝt mid ruȝe uelle. 13.. K. Alis. 5956 He was rughher than any ku. 1382 Wyclif 2 Kings i. 8 A rowȝ man, and with an hery gyrdyl gyrd to the reenys. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxii. 147 Þe folk er all full of feþers and rugh. 1481 Caxton Myrr. ii. viii. 83 Men and wymmen alle naked and also rowhe as beeres. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Horridus, Sus horridus, a rough hogge with bristles standynge vp. 1610 Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 250 Till new⁓borne chinnes Be rough, and Razor-able. 1637 Milton Lycidas 34 Rough Satyrs danc'd, and Fauns with clov'n heel. 1708 Lond. Gaz. No. 4421/8 Both are Rough, having lain at Grass all the Winter. 1875 Encycl. Brit. I. 396/1 Few fat sheep are now sent to market rough after the 1st of April. 1897 Daily News 2 Feb. 9/4 Fat bulls and rough cows were a difficult sale. |
† b. Of hides: Undressed, untanned. Also of shoes, etc.: Made of undressed hide.
Obs.| c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 468 Pero, hemming i. ruh sco. a 1300 Cursor M. 3677 Wit a rugh skin sco hidd his hals. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxvi. (John Baptist) 279 With a belte of reucht skine made. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 265 Hauenge clothes of the ruȝhe skynnes of bestes. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. ii. xxxv. K j b, All rounde aboute are nayled rowhe hydes and all wete and fresshe. 1508– [see rilling n.1]. 1588–9 Reg. Privy Council Scot. IV. 365 Rouch hydis and barkit leddir. 1645 Rec. Elgin (1903) I. 179 Sex roche hyddes pertaining to the said Johne. |
3. Of ground: Difficult to traverse; uneven, rugged, broken; uncultivated, wild.
| c 1000 Life St. Guthlac (1848) 20 Ða ferdon beᵹen þurh ða ruᵹan fennas. c 1200 Ormin 9211 Whærse iss all..sharrp, & ruhh, & gatelæs Þurrh þorrness & þurrh breress. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Kt. 1898 Renaud com richchande þurȝ a roȝe greue. 1387 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxxvii. (Bodl. MS.), Paliurus is a þistel..& growiþ in rowȝ londe and vntelied. 1526 Tindale Luke iii. 5 And the rought wayes shalbe made smoth. 1553 Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 14 This region is rough with mountaynes. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, ii. iii. 4 These high wilde hilles, and rough vneeuen waies, Drawes out our miles. 1611 Bible Deut. xxi. 4 The Elders of that citie shall bring downe the heifer vnto a rough valley. 1686 tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 386 The Road is somewhat crooked and rough. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 297 We had some rough Way to pass yet. 1791 Cowper Odyss. vii. 346 The shore presented only roughest rocks. 1820 Shelley Sensit. Pl. ii. 44 Into the rough woods far aloof. 1865 Ruskin Sesame i. §26 Most men's minds are indeed little better than rough heath wilderness. 1885 Law Rep. Weekly Notes 146/2 A small cottage and some 22 acres of rough land held therewith. |
| fig. 1671 Milton P.R. i. 478 Hard are the ways of truth, and rough to walk. 1741–2 Gray Agrip. 53 Gain the rough heights, and grasp the dangerous honour. 1821 Shelley Epipsych. 72 She met me, Stranger, upon life's rough way. |
II. 4. a. Of the sea or water: Running high, agitated, turbulent.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 147 Hit reled on round vpon þe roȝe yþes. c 1400 Destr. Troy 3693 With a ropand rayne rugh was the se. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xiv. v. 648 He came to a rough water the whiche roryd. 1553 Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 33 The sea was very rough. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iii. ii. 54 All the Water in the rough rude Sea. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 17 The winds grew contrary: and the seas.. too rough to be brooked by so small a vessell. 1662 J. Davies tr. Mandelslo's Trav. 117 The sea is rough at all times, there is no Landing without danger. 1743 P. Francis tr. Hor., Odes iii. xii. 9 When he rises with vigor from Tiber's rough waves. 1808 Jamieson s.v. Heis, One is said to get a heisie in a rough sea. 1862 M. E. Braddon Lady Audley x, She had always been..afraid of a rough sea. |
| fig. a 1596 Sir T. More ii. iii. 27 A quiet ebb will follow this rough tide. 1769 Sir W. Jones Palace Fortune Poems (1777) 23 And rough with tempests [is] his afflicted breast. 1887 Times (Weekly ed.) 16 Dec. 1/3 He will find rough waters very soon. |
b. Of weather, wind, etc.: Stormy, tempestuous, violent; rigorous, severe.
| 13.. Cursor M. 24838 (Edin.), Þe wedir als in somer smeþe Son bigan be rug and reþe. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 139 Roȝ rakkes þer ros with rudnyng an-vnder. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xx. i. 797 Wynter with his rouȝ wyndes and blastes. 1530 Palsgr. 669/2, I pull in the sayle of a shyppe, as marryners do in a roughe wether. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Dies turbidus, a foule rough day. 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. iii. 147 Time, and the Houre, runs through the roughest Day. 1663 Cowley Verses & Ess. (1669) 108 The roughest season of the sky. 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 166 Turn we to survey Where rougher climes a nobler race display. 1784 Cowper Task iii. 441 That no rough blast may sweep His garlands from the boughs. 1818 Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) IV. iv. 123 Should the weather be rough,..do not think of riding. 1852 M. Arnold Empedocles i. ii. 246 Nor is the wind less rough that blows a good man's barge. |
c. Of a voyage or journey: Accompanied or attended with, performed in, rough weather.
| 1854 Doyle Brown, Jones & R. 2 After a rough passage,..landed at Ostend. 1877 [see passage n. 4]. |
5. a. Of actions, etc.: Violent; marked by violence towards, or harsh treatment of, others.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 21962 His first comme it was ful smeth, þe toþer sal be rugh and reth. c 1400 Destr. Troy 10161 With a rumour full roide & a roght hate. Ibid. 13902 The ruerde wax ranke of þat rught fare. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 8 Rough deeds of Rage, and sterne Impatience. 1611 ― Cymb. iv. i. 22 Her Father..may (happily) be a little angry for my so rough vsage. 1635–56 Cowley Davideis iv. 83 Nor was their Lust less active or less bold, Amidst this rougher search of Blood and Gold. 1756 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) IV. 446 The elector..seemed highly provoked at this rough usage. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. ix, There might be some reason for the rough handling he had got. 1881 Stevenson Virg. Puerisque (1903) 65 Those who have..not learnt the rough lessons that youth hands on to age. |
b. Of places or times: Riotous, disorderly; attended with, or marked by, rowdiness.
| 1863 Mrs. Gaskell Sylvia's L. iv, The town was rough with a riot between the press-gang and the whaling⁓folk. 1884 Western Daily Press 2 June 3/1 In the language of the police the Derby Day was the ‘roughest’ which they had ever experienced. |
c. Troublous, unpleasant, unfortunate, unreasonable, unfair.
| c 1856 W. Whitman Daybks. & Notebks. (1978) III. 670 That's rough. 1867 ‘Mark Twain’ Let. 5 Dec. in C. Clemens Mark Twain (1932) 16 Another devilish thing is that the Alta [California] copyrighted the letters—that was rough. 1889 A. Lang Letters on Lit. 183 As we had also lots of..boomerangs..the poultry used to have rather a rough time of it. 1891 F. Paget Spirit of Discipline 164 Things promised a rough time for the Church at Ephesus. 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 61 A bit rough, unreasonable, unfair. 1942 Yank 23 Sept. 14 At best the going's very rough. 1944 Yank 4 Aug. 5 ‘We were 66 days on the beach at Anzio,’ said Egan. ‘It was rough.’ |
6. a. Of language or expression: Harsh, overbearing; uncivil, rude; angry, passionate.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 2031 Antenor..rekont by row all þere rogh speche. 1535 Coverdale 1 Kings xii. 13 The kynge gaue the people an harde rough answere. a 1548 Hall Chron., Rich. III, 14 b, Letters of a more rougher and hawter sort, not without minatorie termes. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, v. ii. 313 Our Tongue is rough, Coze, and my Condition is not smooth. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 84 Austine Barbadici.., by faire and rough tearmes, kept the league unbroken. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §27 The Duke, by his rougher Dialect, in the end prevailed. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 31 ¶2 [He] called him..Lyar, Dog, and other rough Appellatives. 1754 Chatham Lett. Nephew v. 39 Towards Servants, never accustom yourself to rough and passionate language. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair lix, The landlady reproached herself bitterly for ever having used a rough expression to her. 1891 Bp. W. How Lighter Moments (1900) 22 He answered with a rough ‘Yes’. |
| fig. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iii. iii. 55 Thou'rt like to haue A lullabie too rough. |
b. So of features or looks.
| 1595 Shakes. John iii. i. 104 The grapling vigor, and rough frowne of Warre. 1849 James Woodman v, My friend,..whose looks are rougher than his intentions. |
7. a. Of persons, their disposition, etc.: Inclined to be violent, harsh, rude, or ungentle.
to cut up rough: see
cut v. 60 l.
| 1530 Palsgr. 322/2 Roughe, boystous in dealyng, royde. 1535 Coverdale Wisdom xviii. 15 As a rough man of warre. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. ix. 44 Be not to rough in termes, For he is fierce. 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 23 Fearing more the Kings choler, by reason of his rough inclination. 1607 Shakes. Cor. iii. ii. 25 You haue bin too rough, somthing too rough: you must returne, and mend it. 1746 P. Francis tr. Horace, Ep. ii. i. 384 The bards..Who dare not trust the rough, contemptuous stage. 1802 M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. xvii. 142 So rough in my manner to him..that he thinks I have no feeling. 1867 Princess Alice Mem. (1884) 170, I am so afraid they will be too rough with her. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 231 Nay,..do not be rough; good words, if you please. |
| transf. 1671 Milton Samson 1066 A rougher tongue Draws hitherward, I know him by his stride. 1742 Gray Spring 38 Brush'd by the hand of rough Mischance. 1821 Shelley Dirge for the Year 9 So White Winter, that rough nurse, Rocks the death-cold Year to-day. |
b. the rougher sex; the male sex.
| 1781 Cowper Conversat. 843 Divest the rougher sex of female airs. 1822 Scott Nigel Introd. Epist., I must abide by the general opinion, that he is of the rougher sex. |
c. Of horses: Not properly broken in; not easy to ride on.
rare.
| 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 119 He hath rid his Prologue, like a rough Colt. 1685 Cotton tr. Montaigne i. xlviii, The Prince of Sulmona, riding a rough horse at Naples. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VIII. 666/1 The more he trots, and the more he rides rough horses, the better. |
8. Of remedies, medicines, etc.: Violent in effect; strong, powerful.
| a 1674 Clarendon (J.), He..forced him to a quicker and rougher remedy. 1705 Arbuthnot Coins, etc. (1727) 284 His Purgative Medicines are generally very rough and strong. |
9. colloq. a. Bearing or falling hardly
on a person, etc.
| 1870 B. Harte Luck Roaring Camp 2 Sandy Tipton thought it was ‘rough on Sal’. 1887 Besant Kath. Regina iv, She is a governess somewhere, I believe. It's rough on her, isn't it? |
b. Severe
on, ‘down’
on, a person.
| 1870 B. Harte Luck Roaring Camp 15 They're mighty rough on strangers. 1895 Hardy in Harper's Mag. Mar. 579 The management had..been rough on cousins ever since. |
10. dial. Unwell, sick, ill; miserable, dejected, in a bad way.
| 1883 ‘Mark Twain’ Life on Mississippi lii. 513, I spent my last 10 cts for..cheese & i felt pretty rough. a 1893 Story of Dick viii. 85 (Wilts. Gloss.), She was took rough as it might be uv a Monday. 1961 M. Dickens Heart of London ii. 204 He looks rough. Someone ought to do something. Take im to ospital. 1971 C. Bonington Annapurna South Face xvi. 196 ‘I'll never make it to Camp VI,’ said Nick. ‘I feel dead rough.’ 1972 Times 22 June 4/1, I felt really rough..before I was admitted to hospital. |
III. 11. a. Of sounds: Discordant, harsh.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 197 Also her vois is rowȝ, ouþer sumtyme it is wondirly scharp. c 1450 Holland Howlat 215 The Ravyne, rolpand rudly in a roche ran. 1580 Spenser Let. Harvey in H.'s Wks. (Grosart) I. 35 Rough words must be subdued with Vse. 1608 Shakes. Per. iii. ii. 88 The rough and woeful music that we have. 1683 Kennett tr. Erasm. on Folly (1709) 16 The delivery of Achilles was rough, harsh, and hesitant. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 92 ¶12 It requires very little skill to make our language rough. 1845 Proc. Philol. Soc. II. 139 In general it will be found to have affected broad, rough sounds. 1876 J. S. Bristowe Th. & Pract. Med. (1878) 505 The roughest and most grating murmurs. |
b. Gram. Aspirated.
| 1736 Ainsworth Lat. Dict. ii. s.v. H, The original softer א and {hebhe},..and the rougher ע and ת the parent of H. 1746 [see breathing vbl. n. 9]. 1785 Ess. Punctuation 153 That the letters over which it [{nfasper}] is placed, should be pronounced with a rough breathing. 1880 Encycl. Brit. XI. 355/1 H still remained as the rough breathing. |
c. Of the sound of an internal-combustion engine: irregular, excessively noisy.
In
quot. 1945 with a pun on sense 10.
| 1930 Engineering 24 Oct. 534/3 A state of affairs which would cause the engine to be ‘rough’ in its running. 1945 C. H. Ward-Jackson Piece of Cake (ed. 2) 53 When an engine sounds rough it is not well. |
12. Sharp, acid, or harsh to the taste,
esp. of wine or cider.
| 1545 Elyot, s.v. Asper, Asperum uinum, a rough wyne. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 25 Harshe, rough, stipticke, and hard wine. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. iv. 64 Thy pallat the[n] did daine The roughest Berry on the rudest Hedge. 1743 P. Francis tr. Horace, Odes i. xx. 6 'Twas rack'd into a Grecian cask, Its rougher juice to melt away. 1800 Med. Jrnl. IV. 252 Six pounds and a half of syrup, which had rather an unpleasant rough taste. 1834 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) IV. 110 New and rough port⁓wine, diluted with an equal quantity of cold water. 1892 Sat. Rev. 15 Oct. 435/2 That..attraction that West-country folk find in rough cider. |
13. a. Of diction, style, etc.: Wanting grace or refinement; rude, unpolished, rugged.
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 5 Thocht thi langage be bayth rouche and rude, Ȝit neuirtheles the sentence is richt gude. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, Epil. 1 Thus farre with rough and all⁓vnable Pen, Our bending Author hath pursu'd the Story. 1638 Junius Paint. Ancients 27 The Art of Painting hath been about the time of her infancy..rough and poore. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 338 Most by Numbers judge a Poet's song; And smooth or rough, with them is right or wrong. 1751 Chatham Lett. Nephew i. 1 Your translation..is very close to the sense of the original.., the numbers not lame, or rough. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxxii[i], Gifted with a sort of rough eloquence which raised him above his companions. 1881 Jowett Thucyd. I. Introd. p. viii, The old version of Hobbes..is very rough and inaccurate. |
b. Of language, expression, etc.: coarse, vulgar, indelicate.
| 1958 Spectator 1 Aug. 176/2 It badly needs its rough jokes. 1961 in Webster s.v., A rough anecdote for such an audience. 1976 Honolulu Star-Bull. 21 Dec. e–1/4 You learn to live with the rough language so it doesn't bother you. |
14. a. Of persons, their disposition, etc.: Lacking in culture or refinement; uncultivated; having rude manners or ways.
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 306 Their shallow showes,..And their rough carriage so ridiculous. 1688 S. Penton Guardian's Instruction (1897) 20, I was pleased to see the ruff boyish humour filed a little. 1709 Addison Tatler No. 108 ¶4 A plain, rough, honest Man, and wise, tho' not learned. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xix. (1787) II. 134 Who, under the semblance of a rough soldier, disguised the most artful insinuation. 1821 Shelley Epipsych. 440 The mossy tracks..(Which the rough shepherd treads but once a year). 1842 Miall in Nonconf. II. 249 A rougher earnestness than is at present fashionable. 1888 F. Hume Mme. Midas i. Prol., The man at his feet was a rough, heavy-looking fellow. |
| absol. 1784 Cowper Tiroc. 341 Great schools suit best the sturdy and the rough. |
b. rough and round or tough:
cf. rough and ready.
| c 1813 I. Pocock in M. R. Booth Eng. Plays of 19th Cent. (1969) I. 67, I suppose old rough-and-tough, master Grindoff, will be here presently. 1825 Scott Jrnl. 18 Dec., I love the virtues of rough and round men. 1848 Dickens Dombey ix, A blundering young rough-and-tough boy like me. |
c. Unrefined (but kindly or friendly).
| 1848 Dickens Dombey xxxii, The generous..youth, whom he had loved, according to his rough manner. 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 591 Being much befool'd..By the rough amity of the other. 1873 Black Pr. Thule (1874) 9 Mackenzie offered them a rough and hearty welcome. |
d. In slang phrases
rough as bags,
guts, etc., uncouth, coarse. Chiefly
Austral. and
N.Z.| 1919 W. H. Downing Digger Dial. 42 Rough as bags. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 246 Rough as a sandbag,..a term for a person who behaves unpleasantly. Uncouth. Objectionable. 1929 K. S. Prichard Coonardoo ii. 22 Ted was as rough as bags..a good-looking, good-natured bloke who could neither read nor write. 1938 E. Lowe Salute to Freedom 318 Rough as bags. Cleared his throat..and spat, just missing a pile of ribbons. 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 61 Rough as a sandbag, as for next. Rough as bags, rough as a bag, unpolished, crude, coarse. Esp. applied to persons. ‘Rough as a pig's breakfast’ is an equivalent. 1941 ― N.Z. Slang 53 [20th cent. N.Z. slang includes] rough as a bag (the Australians also have rough as bags), and rough as a pig's breakfast. 1946 E. G. Webber Johnny Enzed in Middle East 23 Smarten 'em up... Rough as bags. 1948 P. White Aunt's Story 34 Tom Wilcocks was as rough as bags. His neck was red and strong. The pollard had caked hard on his hard hands. 1966 G. W. Turner Eng. Lang. Austral. & N.Z. vi. 115 There is simile:..‘rough as bags’ (which I know better in the variant ‘rough as sacks’). 1966 B. Beaver You can't come Back 118 I'm shy all right, but I'm not smooth... I'm rough as guts. 1968 F. Hardy Unlucky Australians 11 The old Territorian is a good bloke, rough as guts but his heart's in the right place. 1970 Guardian 25 July 6/1 Behan was most obviously gross and cussed and tragic and rough as ould bags. 1977 C. McCullough Thorn Birds x. 235 Even Dot MacPherson, the Bingelly heiress,..was rough as bags, no posh Sydney boarding school and all that crap. |
15. Of occupations or exercises: Requiring or associated with rude energy or strength.
| 1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Pope ¶5 The softness and warmth of the climate forbid..all rough exercises. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VIII. 665/2 This rough work, all at once, is plainly..detrimental at first. 1865 Ruskin Sesame ii. §68 The man, in his rough work in open world, must encounter all peril and trial. 1906 Temple Bar Jan. 6 Living in a native hut and maintaining himself by the roughest labour. |
IV. 16. a. Of materials: In a natural or crude state; undressed, unwrought; not brought by working into a finished condition or form.
| 1434 in Dugdale Monast. (1846) VI. 1414/1 All the inner side of rough stone, except the bench-table-stones. 1435 Coventry Leet Bk. 181 Here is a ston of rough-iron, the whiche must be tendurly cherysshet. 1485 Nott. Rec. III. 231, vj. lode of rugh plaster vnbrenned. 1545 Bk. of Rates d ij b, Blowynge hornes the dossen... Roughe hornes the M. 1582 in Trans. Jewish Hist. Soc. (1903) IV. 93 For everie quintall of rough Copper he made (being cxij li.) he must have vij. Kebulls of Copper ure. 1601 Act. 43 Eliz. c. 10 §2 Other Engine to stretche or straine any roughe and unwroughte Woollen Clothe. 1670 Pettus Fodinæ Reg. 5 In these Veins..are often found Loadstones,..Rough pearl and Soft diamond. 1766 Compl. Farmer s.v. Queen-bee, The intestines of these bees are found at times to be more or less distended with honey, and with rough wax. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. l. V. 227 A chair or pulpit of rough timber. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 704 The bloom or rough ball, from the puddle furnace. 1897 Henty On the Irrawaddy 131 As they [sc. jewels] were in the rough state, he had no idea what size they would be when cut. |
† b. Sc. Raw, uncooked.
Obs.—1| 1793 T. Scott Poems 351 Nae mair a rive o' gait, or fowl, Ha'f rough, ha'f roastet on a coal, But guid sirloin. |
17. a. Made in a general way without detailed minuteness; having an approximate accuracy or adequacy, rudely sufficient; also, in a preliminary form, to be further improved or elaborated.
| 1607 Shakes. Timon i. i. 43, I haue in this rough worke, shap'd out a man [etc.]. a 1766 G. Colman Posth. Lett. (1820) 336, I have drawn out the above rough sketch, merely to enable you to think in the same train with me. 1801 Farmer's Mag. Jan. 21 A subject susceptible only of a rough guess. 1819 Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) IV. viii. 255, I add a rough drawing of the arms. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xxiii. 601 The possible produce was in a rough way understood and attained. 1882 Floyer Unexpl. Baluchistan 70 The inhabitants seemed capable of a rough division into three classes. |
b. rough draft, draught (
cf. draught n. 32).
| 1699 Temple Ess. Pop. Discontent Wks. 1720 I. 263, I shall..trace upon this Paper the rough Draught of some such Notions as I have had long and often in my Head. 1706 E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) To Rdr. A vj b, This rough Draught of my untutor'd Pencil. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 272 ¶1 The rough Draught of the Marriage Settlement. 1831 [see draught n. 32]. 1879 Froude Cæsar xiii. 173 His Agrarian law, the rough draft of which had been already discussed. |
c. rough copy (
cf. copy n. 6).
| 1781 Cowper Table-T. 614 A rough copy of the Christian face Without the smile, the sweetness, or the grace. 1811 L. M. Hawkins C'tess & Gertr. (1812) I. 259 She could not always read his rough copy. 1888 M. Robertson Lombard St. Myst. xxii, The supposed deeds were only rough copies. |
d. Of stationery, etc.: for use in writing rough notes or exercises; in which preliminary records are written.
| 1867, etc. [see rough book, sense 21]. 1884, etc. [see rough log(-book), sense 21]. 1928 E. Scott War among Ladies I. iv. 44 Blotting-paper, foolscap, ‘rough’ paper..were laid out. 1960 Sc. Nat. Dict. V. 343/2 Jot-book, a rough note-book. Ibid., A pupil's rough exercise book. 1977 P. D. James Death of Expert Witness ii. 101 His rough notebook?.. Anything of importance was noted in that book, and subsequently transferred to the files. |
e. Applied to a vacuum of the lowest degree of evacuation.
| 1927 G. W. C. Kaye High Vacua vi. 74 For industrial purposes, such as exhausting rough vacuum mains, furnaces, or ovens, the so-called ‘dry air pump’ of the engineer is normally employed. 1949 S. Dushman Vacuum Technique iii. 141 With a ‘rough’ vacuum of about 10 mm mercury, such a pump could reduce the pressure to about 1 micron. 1969 Gloss. Terms Vacuum Technol. (B.S.I.) i. 7 Rough vacuum, 105 N/m2 to 102 N/m2. 760 torr to 1 torr. [Note] Not intended to be precise definitions, but to provide convenient and practical subdivisions of the vacuum range. 1976 Physics Bull. Apr. 161/1 Medium vacuum is used extensively for freeze drying and rough vacuum is also used for specimen handling and sample transfer. |
18. a. Not very good or perfect.
| 1812 Examiner 7 Sept. 563/2 Barley rather a rough sample. 1862 Miller Elem. Chem., Org. (ed. 2) 337 Red liquor, a rough acetate of alumina used by the calico⁓printer. 1868 Joynson Metals 22 The iron..run into rough moulds or channels made in sand. |
b. London slang. Coarse or stale (food).
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 53/1 The ‘dropped’ and ‘rough’ fish is bought chiefly for the poor. 1859 Slang Dict. 82 ‘Rough fish’, bad fish. |
c. Lacking in comfort or refinement.
| 1859 Jephson Brittany i. 5 Who can put up with rough accommodation on an emergency. 1881 R. Buchanan God & the Man ii. v, The rough fare of the ship's crew. |
19. a. Comprising or requiring only the ruder degrees or processes of workmanship or skill.
| 1680 Moxon Mech. Exerc. xi. 211 We will not suppose that the Grooves are of equal depth with the Rough-working of the Gouge. 1704 Fuller Med. Gymn. Pref., We know..their Pharmacy was Rough and Barbarous. 1746 P. Francis tr. Horace, Sat. ii. iii. 34 Here the rude chisel's rougher strokes I trac'd. 1803 Med. Jrnl. X. 90 To avail themselves of those methods, however rough and unsightly they may appear, which experience shews to possess great power. 1845 Penny Cycl. Suppl. I. 674/1 After the first or rough boring the interior is fine-bored. 1860 Tomlinson Arts & Manuf. 2 Ser. Cutlery 61 The first, which is called rough buffing, is with Trent sand, and the second, gloss buffing. |
b. Ignoring, or incapable of, fine distinctions; not entering into minutiæ or details.
| 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xlii, The natural and rough sense of Robin Hood. 1855 Pusey Doctr. Real Presence Note B 43 Such a rough, indefinite mind as Luther's. 1873 Hamerton Intell. Life xi. ii. 405 In this rough justice of the world there is a natural distribution of rewards. |
20. Sc. Having abundance or plenty,
esp. of a homely or plain sort. Also
rough and round, coarse but plentiful.
| 1721 Kelly Sc. Prov. 145 He has a Hole under his Nose that will never let him be rough. 1808 Jamieson s.v., A gude rouch house, a house where there is abundance of provisions. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xlv[i], Plenty of all the requisites for ‘a rough and round dinner’. |
V. 21. a. In special collocations, as
rough arch, a discharging arch;
rough band,
dial., a band playing ‘rough music’;
† rough bear, a Scottish variety of barley;
rough bine, a prickly hop-bine (see
quot.);
rough book,
Naut. (
a) (see
quot. 1867); also
= rough log(
-book); (
b) a book in which rough notes are written, a jotter;
rough bounds, (
a) the Scottish Highlands; (
b) part of western Inverness-shire;
rough calf (see
quot. 1952);
rough coal (see
quots.);
rough coat, the first coat of plaster on lath;
rough coating,
= rough-cast n. 2;
rough cut Cinematogr., the first edited version of a film, the state of a film after preliminary editing; also
attrib.;
rough Epsom (see
quot.);
rough file, a file with a deep-cut face;
rough grazing, uncultivated land used for grazing; an area of such land;
rough-knots, ‘unsophisticated seamen’ (Smyth);
rough log(-book) Naut., a book in which the particulars of a ship's voyage are first entered, to be written up later in the main log-book;
rough-mast,
mortar,
plate,
-rendering (see
quots.);
rough mix, a preliminary blend of separately recorded parts of a piece of music;
rough pâté, pâté made with coarsely-chopped or -minced meat;
rough rice, unhusked rice, paddy;
rough scruff,
rough-scuff,
U.S. (see
quots.);
† rough setter, a rough-stone mason;
rough-skins,
U.S. (see
quot.);
rough-slant,
U.S., a lean-to, a rude shelter;
rough spin Austral. slang, a misfortune;
rough-stoning, scouring with rubbing-stone;
rough strings (see
quots.);
rough stuff, (
a) the bottom stuff for boots and shoes; (
b) coarse paint used before the final coat; (
c) unruliness, violent behaviour;
rough timber (see
quot. 1711);
rough-tonguing, rude speech; verbal abuse, disparaging; a scolding;
rough trade slang, a tough or sadistic element among male homosexuals,
esp. prostitutes; the activities of homosexual prostitutes; (see also
quots. 1935, 1973);
† rough wall, rubble work;
rough-waller, a builder of rough-stone walls.
| 1833 Loudon Encycl. Archit. §1075 All the doors, windows, etc., to be saved with *rough arches (to have discharging arches) over the same. |
| 1854 Wilts. Arch. Mag. I. 88 The procession was in each instance headed by what is called a ‘*rough band’. |
| 1771 Encycl. Brit. I. 61/1 The common barley,..the Highland barley, more commonly called *rough bear [etc.]. |
| 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 398 What is commonly called ‘white bine’, tolerably free from the rough barbs which are often found on the under part of the leaves, which constitute a ‘*rough bine’. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 580 *Rough Books, those in which the warrant officers make their immediate entries of expenditure. 1902 Conrad Typhoon v. 47 He copied neatly out of the rough-book the number of miles, the course of the ship. 1969 A. Laski Dominant Fifth ii. 43 She had been drawing on her rough book. |
| 1814 J. Grant Orig. Gael 288 The people or Gael of the mountains, expressed in English by *rough bounds. 1830 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) XXI. 54/1 The most rugged district is that..between Argyleshire, Loch Lochy, and the sea, and generally called the Rough⁓bounds. 1862 Skene Introd. Dean of Lismore's Bk. p. xv, The Garbh chriochan or rough bounds, consisting of Arisaig, Moydart, Moror and Knoydart. |
| 1912 Monk & Lawrence Text Bk. Stationery Binding 85 *Rough calf or its substitutes require the surface well cleaned before tooling. 1952 A. W. Lewis Basic Bookbinding ii. 17 Rough calf, calf skin finished on the flesh side and used on books with the flesh side outermost. 1963 B. C. Middleton Hist. Eng. Craft Bookbinding Technique 286 Rough calf was much used in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 1975 Sotheby & Co. (Hodgson's Rooms) Catal. 31 July–1 Aug. 45 Abelard (Peter) and Heloise. Opera,..a few leaves slightly soiled, eighteenth century rough calf, slightly rubbed. |
| 1789 J. Williams Min. Kingd. I. 244 *Rough, roch, or rock coal,..is a free coal of various degrees of strength and hardness, commonly of a good black colour. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 962 The open-burning cubical coals are known by several local names; the rough coal or clod coal, from the large masses in which they may be had. 1855 J. Phillips Man. Geol. 204 The coal is partly ‘splint’, partly ‘rough’ or ‘cheery’. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1993/2, *Rough-coat,..the first coat on lath. On brick it is termed laying..; on masonry, rendering. |
| 1791 W. H. Marshall W. Eng. (1796) II. 297 Stucco is analogous to the materials of a dam,..*Rough Coating, to the puddle of Canal Makers. |
| 1939 N.Y. Times 2 Apr. x. 4/4 The only demands we have made on the producers as a Guild were to have two weeks' preparation time for ‘A’ pictures, one week preparation time for ‘B’ pictures and to have supervision of just the first *rough cut of the picture. 1952 L. Ross Picture (1953) iii. 108 Actually, every director should make the rough cut—the film as assembled from start to finish for the first time—himself. 1957 Manvell & Huntley Film Music iii. 59 Functional music may be composed after the film has been shot and assembled in rough-cut. 1970 Daily Tel. 23 Sept. 12/3 There was no censorship apart from the cutting of a single frame at the request of an East German Government representative who saw the pictures at rough-cut stage. 1978 P. J. Kavanagh People & Weather vi. p. ciii, He returned to the studio with his film, triumphant... But when he put together the rough-cut he was appalled. |
| 1853 Ure Dict. Arts I. 57 The alum mothers are boiled down to a crystallizing point, and afford a crop of ‘*Rough Epsom’, which is a sulphate of magnesia and protoxide of iron. |
| 1834–6 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VIII. 275/2 Files of the very coarsest sort are called rubbers, and the next in order to these are called *rough files. |
| 1932 Jrnl. Min. Agric. XXXIX. 37 White clover can be successfully established on certain types of *rough grazings without mechanical cultivation. 1953 E. Smith Guide Eng. Traditions 1 ‘Rough grazing’, wild open land over which various owners of livestock have grazing rights. 1966 I. Moore Grass & Grasslands iv. 30 The transition from ley to permanent pasture or meadows, thence to rough grazing and scrub, and finally to forest, is an orderly, gradual process. 1970 Sruth (Inverness) 16 Apr. 3/1 The reconditioning of regenerated areas of heath land and rough grazings. |
| 1884 Naval Encycl. 701/2 *Rough log, the book in which the journal of the ship is originally written. A smooth copy, signed by the watch-officers, is inspected by the commanding officer, and forwarded to the Navy Department. 1917 D. Wilson-Barker Man. Elementary Seamanship (ed. 7) vii. 225 Every officer keeps an account of the work..during his watch. This record he enters on a log slate, scrap, deck, or rough log, as it may be called. 1922 F. Riesenberg Stand. Seamanship for Merchant Service xviii. 761 The smooth log is a copy of the rough log. The latter is the original and valuable record. 1961 F. H. Burgess Dict. Sailing 174 Rough log, the deck log. |
| 1948 R. de Kerchove Internat. Maritime Dict. 667/2 Ship's log book, a nautical record compiled from entries taken from the *rough log book. 1961 F. H. Burgess Dict. Sailing 68 Deck log, a ship's rough log book, in which is recorded all information about working the ship, and other events as they occur. 1962 G. Danton Theory & Pract. Seamanship xiii. 288 The Chief Officer's logbook..is virtually a diary of the ship's activities. The information contained therein is derived from the rough logbook, which is kept by the individual Officers-of-the-watch. 1970 D. M. Henderson Seamanship xxvi. 464 The rough, original or chart room log-book is written up by the Officer of the Watch or Officer of the Deck. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v. Mast, *Rough-mast, or rough-tree, a spar fit for making a mast. |
| 1977 Rolling Stone 24 Mar., I'd sneak back in and listen to the *rough mix. 1977 Zigzag Apr. 6/2 The way Stevie likes to work is to record something, then take a rough mix down to the country where he's got a little demo studio, and work out what he's going to put down within what's already there. |
| 1775 Ash s.v. Roughcasting, The *rough mortar on the surface of a building. 1823 Crabb Technol. Dict., Rough mortar, a sort of sand which, when mixed with mortar, makes it look as red as blood. |
| 1961 G. Smith Business of Loving xi. 222, I settled on a *rough paté, some pheasant with game chips. 1974 Times 4 Nov. 14/8 We chose rough country pâté and Vichyssoise to start with. 1977 P. Harcourt At High Risk i. 19 We had a rough pâté de la campagne. |
| 1883 J. D. Weeks Rep. Manuf. Glass 20 *Rough plate is the crude plate-glass as it comes from the annealing oven. |
| 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 393 *Rough-rendering..means one coat rough. |
| 1763 Ann. Reg. i. 92, 776 bushels of *rough rice. |
| 1831 Boston Even. Transcript 1 Oct. 1/2 The *roughscruf of St Louis called my deliverer a Watchenago. 1865 ‘Mark Twain’ in Californian 18 Mar. 8/2 The ruff-scruff and rag-tag-and-bob-tail of noble old Calaveras. |
| 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 371 *Rough-Scuff, the lowest people; the rabble. 1864 Webster, Rough-scuff, a rough, coarse fellow. |
| 1435 in Dugdale Monast. (1846) VI. 1415/1 Will. Horwode shall nether set mo nor fewer free masons, *rogh setters ne leyes thereupon. |
| 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 371 *Roughskins, a gang of Baltimore bullies. |
| 1924 Truth (Sydney) 27 Apr. 6 *Rough spin, bad luck. 1940 F. D. Davison Woman at Mill 150, I had a rough spin. |
| 1855 Mrs. Gaskell North & S. xii, There had been *rough-stoning done in the middle of the floor. |
| 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 189 The pieces of timber which are thus placed under the steps are called *rough strings. 1842 Gwilt Encycl. Arch. §2026 The framed timbers which support the steps of a staircase..generally consist of two pieces inclined to the pitch of the stairs, called the rough strings. |
| 1889 Charity Organis. Rev. Jan. 7 Clickers cut out the leather for the uppers, *rough-stuff cutters that for the soles and heels. 1913 J. London Valley of Moon i. iv. 32 There's goin' to be rough stuff down there in a minute. 1915 H. L. Wilson Ruggles of Red Gap ii. 30 But you'll have to be firm, because he's full of tricks. And if he starts any rough stuff, just come to me. 1919 W. H. Downing Digger Dial. 42 Rough stuff, an undisciplined, reckless, indecent, disorderly or disrespectful person or thing. 1925 Chesterton Everlasting Man i. i. 24 His chief occupation..was..treating women in general with what is, I believe, known in the world of the film as ‘rough stuff’. 1940 Wodehouse Eggs, Beans & Crumpets 238 Your aunt..has a right to early information about any rough stuff that is being pulled on the premises. 1959 ‘M. M. Kaye’ House of Shade xx. 275 I'd have got that pro-Red nancy-boy before he started any rough stuff. 1978 Lancashire Life Apr. 73/2 The presence of a girl in a group of tipsy young men keeps them in check, however: the laughs are there but the rough stuff isn't. |
| 1607 Nott. Rec. IV. 284 The marketts of sawen and cloven tymber..exceptinge all *rough tymber. 1711 W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 163 Rough Timber; that which is only cut down, and the Boughs lop'd off. |
| 1916 ‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 98 An' I admit I felt easier after that *rough-tonguin'... That slobberin' an' kissin' business..may be all right for a lot o' bloomin' Frenchies. 1919 J. Buchan Mr. Standfast xii. 217 He would relish the rough-tonguing of non-coms. 1956 N. Marsh Off with his Head (1957) ix. 191 Maids up to castle heard his great-auntie giving him a terrible rough-tonguing. |
| 1935 A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 99/1 *Rough trade, a person picked up on the street by a sexual pervert. 1965 Playboy Aug. 124/2 The gay boys call us ‘rough trade’! We're the ones they date.{ddd} We're the ones they buy presents for. 1967 Evening Standard 11 July 10/3 The gradual destruction..of..Boyde Ashlar..as he gets involved with what I believe is called the Rough Trade. 1973 Amer. Speech 1970 XLV. 58 Rough trade n, pick-up from one of the occupations typical of tough men, such as truck drivers or dock workers. 1976 M. Machlin Pipeline xxxviii. 412 There were no gay bars or hangouts, and very few gays dared walk the streets in the more extravagant, deviant-type-wardrobes. Any gay activity in Fairbanks was probably confined to rough trade. 1978 C. Beaton Parting Years vi. 159 He made friendships too easily with the ‘rough trade’. 1980 Times Lit. Suppl. 7 Mar. 253/3 Auden was a homosexual who..seems to have had a greater craving for a settled relationship and being loved than for rough trade or other casual excitement. |
| 1398 Hist. Dun. Script. Tres (Surtees) p. clxxx, Exterius de puro lapide vocato achiler.., interius vero de fracto lapide vocato *roghwall. |
| 1864 C. W. King Gnostics 174 The common workman who ran up the body of the wall..was called the ‘*Rough⁓waller’. 1885 Westall Old Factory i, He was a first-rate hedger and ditcher and rough waller. |
b. In names or animals,
esp. fishes and reptiles, as
rough aphrodite,
bullhead,
dab, etc.; also
rough-tail,
-wing, etc. Also
rough collie, a long-coated black and white, or black, tan, and white collie;
Rough Fell, a large long-woolled sheep of the breed so called, found in parts of the Pennine area;
rough greyhound = deer-hound.
| 1783 J. Barbut Vermes 43 Aphrodita Scabra, the *Rough Aphrodite. |
| 1803 Shaw Gen. Zool. IV. ii. 259 *Rough bull⁓head, Cottus Scaber... Native of the Indian seas. |
| 1806 *Rough collie [see collie]. 1872 ‘Stonehenge’ Dogs Brit. Islands (ed. 2) ii. viii. 175 The rough or shaggy-coated colley..has a fine foxlike muzzle. 1931 A. C. Smith About our Dogs xvii. 275 The Smooth Collie should be identical in all features with the Rough, except in coat. 1977 Grimsby Even. Tel. 5 May 3/5 (Advt.), Cairns, Westies, Rough Collies, Old English Sheepdogs. |
| 1840 Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 323 P[leuronectes] leminoides, the Long, or *Rough Dab. |
| 1916 W. J. Malden Brit. Sheep & Shepherding vi. 58 The *Rough Fell sheep of the moors and hills of North-west Yorkshire..and adjoining districts are clearly allied to the Scotch Black-face. 1945 J. F. H. Thomas Sheep ii. 30 The Rough Fell. Again a breed not numerically strong. 1960 Rough Fell [see Exmoor]. |
| 1843 R. T. Lowe Fishes Madeira i. 55 Trachichthys pretiosus, Black-mouthed affonsin or *Rough-fish. |
| 1883 Day Fishes Gt. Brit. II. 342 Fuller's ray,..*Rough flapper, Edinburgh. |
| 1888 Rough greyhound [see fleet-hound s.v. fleet a.1 4]. 1948 C. L. B. Hubbard Dogs in Brit. xv. 122 The Deerhound, or Rough Greyhound as it was then called, was a prized possession of the Scottish chieftain. |
| 1802 Shaw Gen. Zool. III. i. 229 *Rough lizard. Lacerta Stellio... This species is remarkable for the unusually rough..appearance of its whole upper surface. |
| 1769 Pennant Brit. Zool. (1776) III. 75 *Rough Ray... The upper part of the body..entirely covered with small spines. 1883 Day Fishes Gt. Brit. II. 346 The Homelyn ray: rough ray: sandy ray. |
| 1781 Pennant Hist. Quadrup. II. 524 *Rough Seal... Perhaps what the Newfoundland Seal-hunters call Square Phipper. 1866 Chambers's Encycl. VIII. 585/1 The Rough..Seal (P. hispida) frequents quiet bays on the coasts of Greenland. |
| 1802 Shaw Gen. Zool. III. ii. 494 *Rough snake, Coluber Scaber. |
| 1803 Ibid. IV. ii. 408 *Rough sparus, Sparus Dentex. |
| 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 234 *Rough-taile [= the horse mackarel]..is a dry fish and engendreth thick juyce. 1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 192/1 s.v. Snakes, Family 3. Uropeltidæ (Rough Tails). |
| 1877 Nature 3 May 18/1 A *Rough Terrapin (Clemmys punctularia) from the Upper Amazons. |
| 1802 Shaw Gen. Zool. III. i. 55 *Rough tortoise, Testudo scabra? |
| 1819 G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 408 Tortrix rugosana, the *Rough⁓wing. 1832 J. Rennie Consp. Butterfl. & M. 184 The Rough-Wing..appears the beginning of June on hedges. Ibid. 180 The Grey Rough-Wing. |
| 1648 Hexham ii, Een Steen-worm, a *Rough-worme in a mans foote, or a Lope. |
c. In names of plants, as
rough bindweed,
bristle-grass,
cadlock, etc.
| 1601 *Rough-bindweed [see bindweed 2]. 1611 Cotgr., Liset picquant, Rough Bindweed. 1823 Crabb Techn. Dict., Rough Bindweed,..the Smilax aspera of Linnæus. |
| 1859 Miss Pratt Brit. Grasses 82 *Rough Bristle-grass. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Langue de bœuf,..Ox-tongue, *rough or small Buglosse. |
| 1790 W. H. Marshall Midl. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Cadlock, *Rough,..wild mustard. |
| 1859 Miss Pratt Brit. Grasses 73 Tufted Hair-grass..is also termed *Rough-caps, from its long, narrow, rough, twisting leaves. |
| Ibid. 63 *Rough Cat's-tail. |
| 1849 Craig, *Rough-chevril, the plant Anthriscus vulgaris. |
| 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 26 a, Lagopus maye be called in Englishe Haris foot or *rough clauer. 1611 Cotgr., Treffle bas, hares-foot, rough Clauer. |
| 1771 Encycl. Brit. II. 304/1 Dactylis..glomeratus, or *rough cock's-foot grass. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 832 Rough Cock's-foot Grass..is a coarse, rough grass, but very hardy and productive. 1859 Miss Pratt Brit. Grasses 97 Rough Cock's-foot. |
| 1889 J. H. Maiden Useful Native Pl. 143 Trema aspera,..‘*Rough Fig’... This shrub is firmly believed by some to be poisonous. |
| 1886 Britten & Holland Plant-n., *Rough Grass, Dactylis glomerata. |
| 1833 C. Sturt S. Australia I. iii. 118 The *rough-gum abounded near the creek. 1898 Morris Austral Eng. 180/1 Rough-barked or Rough Gum, Eucalyptus botryoides. |
| 1784 Cullum Hist. Hawsted 4 *Rough Horse-tail, or Shave-grass (Equisetum hyemale) in woods. 1861 Bentley Man. Bot. 705 Equisetum hyemale, Rough Horse-tail, which is largely imported from Holland under the name of Dutch Rushes. |
| 1883 Almondbury Gloss. s.v. Kex, There are two sorts of kex—Shiny Kex, Angelica sylvestris; and *Rough Kex, Heracleum spondylium. |
| 1877 E. Leigh Cheshire Gloss., *Rough-nut, the sweet or Spanish chestnut. |
| 1548 Turner Names Herbes (E.D.S.) 76 It may be called in englishe Cow-persnepe or *rough Persnepe. |
| 1797 Billingsley Agric. Somerset 116 The sorts [of potatoes] cultivated are the kidney,..*rough red, purple, and silver-skin. |
| 1886 Britten & Holland Plant-n. 408 *Rough Robin, Lychnis Flos-cuculi. |
| 1548 Turner Names Herbes (E.D.S.) 46 It maye be named in englishe *rough Trifoly or harefote. |
| 1886 Britten & Holland Plant-n., *Rough Weed, Stachys palustris. |
22. With
ns. used
attrib., as
rough-board,
rough-edge,
rough-water,
rough-weather,
rough-wood.
| 1833 Chambers's Edin. Jrnl. 1 June 141/1 Those who are tough, keep the deck in their rough-weather cloaks. 1862 Burton Book-hunter i. 18 He was not a black-letter man,..or a rough-edge man. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. ii. xii, Rough-weather nautical clothes. 1893 Outing XXII. 122/1 Curiosities without number hide the rough-board walls. 1898 H. E. A. Coate Realities of Sea Life xiv. 124 All hands very busy in unbending rough-weather sails and bending fine-weather ones. 1921 W. de la Mare Crossings 67 A garden chair beside a roughwood table. 1967 Gloss. Terms Air-Cushion Vehicles (B.S.I.) 7 Rough water drag, the increment in the drag during operation in rough water over the drag, under otherwise identical conditions, in calm water. 1971 Flying Apr. 27/1 A deep V bottom provides lower impact loads on rough-water landings. 1978 J. A. Michener Chesapeake iv. 184 The entire group of Quakers went..to the rough-wood house of James Lamb. |
23. Comb., forming parasynthetic
adjs., as
rough-backed,
rough-barked,
rough-bearded,
rough-edged,
rough-faced,
rough-grained,
rough-mouthed,
rough-surfaced, and
ns. derived from these, as
rough-handedness,
rough-heartedness; also
rough-looking.
| 1836 J. G. Whittier Mogg Megone 11 The gnarlëd trunk of the *rough-barked oak. 1837 Penny Cycl. IX. 396 Any other rough-barked plant. |
| 1612 Webster White Devil v. i, No *rough-bearded comet Stares on thy mild departure. |
| 1828 J. E. Smith Engl. Flora II. 49 Leaflets ovate, pinnatifid, *rough-edged. 1932 D. Gascoyne Roman Balcony 36 Glittering, rough-edged shadows on the dull lawn. 1970 Daily Tel. 23 Jan. 6 Rough-edged men who cannot complete a sentence without a four-letter word. 1978 J. Carroll Mortal Friends ii. vii. 216 He threw himself into the fray with a fierceness that was rough-edged and merciless even for him. |
| 1812 E. Weeton Let. 25 May (1969) II. 15 A *rough-faced fellow, a journeyman saddler. 1895 F. M. Crawford Casa Braccio xvii, The lower story was built of rough-faced blocks of travertine stone. |
| 1849 D. J. Browne Amer. Poultry Yd. (1855) 243 One short, squat, *rough-feathered, ill-marked goose. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Perche de mer, the sea Perch; a wholesome, *rough-find, and tongue⁓lesse, rocke-fish. |
| 1703 J. Philips Splendid Shilling 128 Walnut in *rough-furrow'd Coat secure. |
| 1704 Dict. Rust. (1726) s.v. Oak, The *rough-grain'd Body of a stubbed Oak. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xv, A gentle hand—rough-grained and hard though it was. 1962 in E. E. Evans-Pritchard Ess. Social Anthropol. v. 115 He represented a sultan who excels the ordinary people in body and spirit, and one gained the impression that one was dealing with a rough-grained, able and cunning man. |
| 1548 Elyot, Hispidus, bristled, or *rough heared. 1648 Hexham ii, Ruydigheydt, Scabbinesse, Scurvinesse, or Rough-haired. 1793 Martyn Lang. Bot., Hirtus, rough-haired. 1863 Life Normandy II. 224 A couple of big rough-haired deer-hounds. |
| a 1680 Butler Charact., A Bumpkin (1908) 41 He is never without some *rough-handed Flatterer, that rubs him, like a Horse, with a Curry-Comb. 1870 J. B. Brown Eccles. Truth 269 The age of conquest and rough-handed violence. |
| 1889 Gretton Memory's Harkback 22 One instance as well as a hundred will tell my babyism and their *rough-handedness. |
| 1856 Lever Martins of Cro' M. 244 To rub shoulders with the coarse-minded, the *rough-hearted, and the vulgar. |
| 1615 Byfield Coloss. iii. 12 The first is fear.., as it is opposed unto boldness, conceitedness, *rough-heartedness. |
| 1860 Ruskin Unto this Last iv. §79 These *rough-jacketed, rough-worded persons. |
| 1806 T. S. Surr Winter in London III. 226 A *rough-looking sea-faring man, about four-and-thirty years old. |
| 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 279 More *rough mannerd than the Silesians and Bohemians. |
| 1899 A. Bennett Jrnl. 29 Oct. (1932) I. 96 The actual coarse, ignorant, crude-thinking, *rough-mouthed maiden of past times. |
| 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. Wks. (Grosart) V. 104 Boulstered out with *rough plumed siluer plush. |
| 1690 Norris Beatitudes (1692) 83 The World is made for the bold and violent, the *rough⁓spirited and turbulent. |
| 1926 *Rough-surfaced [see offset n. 10 b]. 1962 Science Survey XI. 166 There are smooth-surfaced vesicles, vacuoles and tubules; flattened sacs whose limiting membranes are encrusted with particles and therefore ‘rough’-surfaced. |
| 1593 Nashe Christ's T. Wks. (Grosart) IV. 248 Hee wil sende a *rougher stringed scourge amongst vs. 1533 *Rough-tasted [see apple n. 1]. 1731 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Wines, Of the same Sort are certain austere or rough-tasted Substances. |
| 1872 Tennyson Gareth & Lynette 885 *Rough-thicketed were the banks and steep. |
| 1598 Marston Sco. Villanie iii. ix. 217 Higher straines Then well beseemes a *rough-tongu'd Satyres part. 1855 Kingsley Heroes, Argonauts v. 165 They were rough⁓tongued. |
| 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. File, Some cutting faster, as the *rough-tooth'd file. |
| 1818 Keats Endym. ii. 864 No longer did he wage A *rough-voic'd war against the dooming stars. 1865 Morris Jason xvii. 79 The shout Of rough-voiced sea-folk endeth every song. |
b. In specific names of animals, birds, etc.
| 1890 Cent. Dict. s.v., The *rough-backed cayman, Alligator or Caiman trigonatus, of South America. |
| 1785 Latham Gen. Synop. Birds VI. 586 *Rough-billed Pelican. |
| 1803 Shaw Gen. Zool. IV. ii. 191 *Rough-finned band-fish, Cepola Trachyptera. |
| 1901 Nature 19 Sept. 523/2 Seven *rough-keeled snakes (Dasypeltis scabra). |
| 1843 R. T. Lowe Fishes Madeira I. 155 Mugil corrugatus, Common or *Rough-lipped Grey Mullet of Madeira. |
| 1887 Cassell's Encycl. Dict., *Rough-necked jacare..from Demarara. |
| 1758 Borlase Nat. Hist. Cornw. 276 *Rough-ridged limpet. |
| c 1711 Petiver Gazophyl. vi. 58 *Rough-scaled Cape Lizard. |
| 1801 Shaw Gen. Zool. I. i. 134 *Rough-Tailed Bat. 1871 Darwin Desc. Man ii. xii. (1890) 332 The rough-tailed stickleback (G. trachurus). |
| 1838 Audubon Ornith. Biog. IV. 593 *Rough-winged Swallow, Hirundo Serripennis. Ibid. 595 In its general appearance..the Rough-winged Swallow is extremely similar to the Bank Swallow. 1872 Coues N. Amer. Birds 114 Stelgidopteryx, Rough-winged Swallow. |
c. In specific names of plants.
rough-stalked meadow-grass.
| 1882 Proc. Berwick Nat. Club IX. 430 There is a fine cluster of *rough-barked Spanish chestnuts among the oaks. 1889 J. H. Maiden Useful Native Pl. 441 The former [was called] by the colonists ‘Rough-barked Bloodwood’. |
| Ibid. 85 Echinopogon ovatus,..*Rough-bearded Grass. |
| 1833 Proc. Berwick Nat. Club I. 29 Hieracium prenanthoides—*Rough-bordered Hawkweed. |
| 1753 Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Tithymalus, The wart-Spurge, or *rough-fruited Spurge. |
| 1822 Hortus Anglicus II. 7 P. Argemone, Long *Rough-headed Poppy. |
| 1789 J. Pilkington View Derbysh. I. 443 Lathyrus hirsutus, *Rough podded Vetchling, or Pease-everlasting. 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 640 Ervum hirsutum, Rough podded Tare. 1822 Hortus Anglicus II. 246 L. Hirsutus, Rough-podded Lathyrus. |
| Ibid. 463 T. Dactyloides, *Rough-seeded Tripsacum. |
| 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 826 The Common or *Rough-stalked Meadow Grass. 1901 H. M. Ward Grasses iii. 42 Poa trivialis. (Rough-stalked Meadow-grass.) Conspicuous in deep rich pastures. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 8 Mar. 117/1 Rough-stalked meadow grass, bent, and wild white clover together with a few so-called ‘weeds’. |
| 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 398 The characteristic vegetable is the *rough-stemmed tangle—Laminaria digitata. |
▸
rough sleeper n. (a) a person who sleeps fitfully, one who tosses and turns during sleep (
rare);
(b) Brit. a person who sleeps without adequate shelter,
esp. on the streets of a town or city; a homeless person;
cf. to sleep rough (see
to lie (live, sleep) rough at
rough adv. 1b).
| 1945 Times Recorder (Zanesville, Ohio) 5 Mar. 7/2, I like plenty of room. I'm a *rough sleeper..and I snore. 1966 Social Casualties '66 4 The peripatetic and floating sub-world of Skid Row—the rough sleepers, the crude spirit drinkers, [etc.]. 2001 B. Broady In this Block there lives Slag 160 We passed through Theatreland... At the front of the house four rough sleepers lay, each under his own critical notice. |
▸
rough sleeping n.after
to sleep rough (see
to lie (live, sleep) rough at
rough adv. 1b).
Brit. the action or practice of sleeping rough; (now)
spec. (
Brit.) the action or condition of sleeping on the streets without adequate shelter; homelessness.
| 1827 B. Disraeli Vivian Grey V. viii. v. 305, I..am now as little fit for rough riding, and rough eating, and *rough sleeping, as a pet monkey with a scalded tail! 1966 Times 25 Nov. 11/5 The figures are the result of the first full-scale national survey of the roofless and rootless... They were reached after a co-ordinated count at..hostels, shelters,..and the 2,800 rough-sleeping sites. 2002 Church Times 18 Oct. 7/2 The main aim of the Rough Sleepers Strategy is to reduce and sustain the level of rough sleeping in Reading to no more than four, or as near to zero as possible. |
▪ V. rough, adv. (
rʌf)
Also 7–8
ruff;
Sc. 6 (8)
ruch, 9
rouch,
roch.
[f. the adj. Cf. the earlier form row adv.] 1. a. In a rough manner; roughly, rudely; without special care or accuracy, etc.
| 1560 Rolland Seven Sages Prol. iii, Scho..Meruellit at me how I durst..Aganis wemen to speik sa ruch and rude. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 759 The river Cam, which running rough upon stones, cutteth through it. 1680 Otway Orphan ii. iv, Should you charge me rough I should but weep. 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2289/7 A plain brown cropt Nag,..Walks and trots well, gallops rough. 1762 Mills Syst. Husb. I. 92 Before the land is plowed rough for a spring crop. 1780 Mirror No. 97 They should be taught..to speak their own language rough and round. 1858 Kingsley Poems 62 As we pledge the health of our general, Who fares as rough as we. 1897 Outing XXX. 481/2 In polo, a man rides rough all the time. 1954 L. Klemantaski tr. Fraichard's Le Mans Story v. 52 ‘The engine is running rough!’ he cried. 1978 J. Gardner Dancing Dodo xxxviii. 308 The port engine faltered... She had started to run rough. |
b. to lie (live, sleep) rough (see
quots.).
| 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 357 Rough upon the flinty Rock he lyes. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, To lie Rough, in one's Clothes all Night. 1796 Grose's Dict. Vulg. T. (ed. 3), To lie rough,..to sleep on the bare deck of a ship. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet ch. xii, Job will take you to a place where you may sleep rough till he calls you. 1893 Wiltshire Gloss., ‘To sleep rough’, or ‘lay rough’, to sleep about out of doors like a vagabond. 1960 Guardian 7 Dec. 1/4 He had been sleeping rough with the others on a haystack. 1974 Whig-Standard (Kingston, Ontario) 11 Jan. 7/1 A ‘dosser’..Sleeps on a bench, wrapped in a newspaper, living ‘rough’. 1974 J. I. M. Stewart Gaudy ix. 172 We neither of us had a bean, you see, and I was just going to sleep rough. 1977 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXV. 148/2 There are going to be 2000 single people in London without homes sleeping rough this Christmas. |
2. Comb. a. With verbs, as
rough-bore, to bore roughly,
rough-dig,
rough-edit,
rough-enter,
rough-hull,
rough-lay,
rough-land,
rough-school,
rough-sketch,
rough-sort, etc.
| 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Crustare parietes,..to rough lay; to pariette walles. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. Wks. (Grosart) IV. 69 Now the raine wil rough-enter through the crannies of theyr wauering. 1679 Moxon Mech. Exerc. ix. 155 They generally Rough-plain their Boards for Flooring. 1776 G. Semple Building in Water 3 They..could not conveniently get the Ruins at that Time removed, therefore, they only just rough-levelled them. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §81, I immediately rough-turned a piece of wood. 1812 Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. ii. App. 50 After kiln-drying the barley, it is put into the mill, and rough hulled. 1829 A. Cunningham Lives Brit. Painters I. 111 Having received an agreeable letter from Dr. Franklin he rough-wrote an answer. 1881 M. E. Braddon Asph. II. 66 [He] had rough-ploughed a thousand acres or so of his best land. 1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 18 At first it is rough bored, should it not have been cast hollow. 1909 Country Life 23 Oct. 577/1 One could see him rough-schooling younger brothers and companions. 1910 W. J. Locke Simon xxiv. 315 The story of his marriage is a little lunatic drama all to itself and I will tell it some day. But now I can only rough-sketch the facts. 1950 Partridge Here, There & Everywhere 166, I should like to rough-sketch the position occupied by him and Lewis Carroll in the chronology of the subject. 1960 Aeroplane XCIX. 541/2 Turning to lunar and interplanetary research, Mr. Stoller said that in 1962 three Ranger vehicles were planned to rough-land payloads on the surface of the Moon. These will be followed by the soft-landing mission. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio vii. 124 It will often be possible to rough edit without bothering to mark the tape. 1969 W. Rutherford Gallows Set iv. 55 This film has already been rough-edited... That means that the editor will have done all the obvious things, taken out false starts, put in the cutaway questions. 1972 H. Evans Newsman's Eng. i. 1 The international news..has been checked, rough-edited. 1976 Norwich Mercury 19 Nov. 11/3 It is advisable to rough-dig all uncropped land. 1978 Cahiers de Lexicologie XXXII. 31 Assembling and rough-sorting a citation collection. |
b. With
pa. pples. used attributively or predicatively, as
rough-bedded,
rough-bound,
rough-built,
rough-clad,
rough-cut,
rough-dug,
rough-hurled,
rough-plucked,
rough-scored,
rough-split,
rough-trimmed, etc.
| 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 1249 As in a rough-grown grove. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. i. 52 Thou Jernsey, bravely crown'd With rough-imbattl'd rocks. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xiii. ¶3, I have Fil'd the Face..with a Rough-Cut-File. 1727–46 Thomson Summer 1761 A savage..with the unfashioned fur Rough-clad. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §148 The second step rough bedded. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xix, The crowd..forced its way up a steep and rough-paved street. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 95 His face, Rough-redden'd with a thousand winter gales. 1865 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 20 Those crookèd rough-scored chequers may be pieced To crosses meant for Jesu's. 1870 D. G. Rossetti Let. 21 Apr. (1965) II. 851, I suppose the inscription at the back of the rough⁓bound copy sent is from the real block. 1877 R. J. More Under the Balkans 215 A small bit of woollen carpet laid on the red rough-plastered floor. 1882 W. D. Hay Brighter Britain! I. v. 120 Rough-split sections of the great logs. 1887 Ruskin Præterita II. 400 Floors and partitions all of rough-sawn larch. a 1892 J. G. Whittier in S. T. Pickard Life & Lett. Whittier (1894) I. i. 13 And lo! in the midst of a clearing stood The rough-built farmhouse, low and lone. 1909 Daily Chron. 18 Oct. 4/5 Fowls are sold both dead and rough-plucked, and alive for fattening. 1925 Blunden Eng. Poems 31 As wave-wise Rough-hurled they rose, With a sweet sureness. 1965 G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. xiv. 221/1 During the second world war about 1½ tons of rough-trimmed mica were won from this area. 1967 E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage ii. 38 Woven silks were embellished with rich all-over embroidery which incorporated pearls and rough-cut gem stones. 1973 R. Adams Watership Down xx. 125 The Honeycomb was still rough-dug and half-finished. 1976 Cumberland News 3 Dec. 35/3 (Advt.), Oven ready and rough plucked birds. |
c. With
pres. pples., as
rough-blustering,
rough-clanking,
rough-living,
rough-rising.
| 1605 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. Lawe 1003 Rough-blust'ring Boreas nurst with Riphean snow. 1729 Savage Wanderer ii. 15 Rough-rising from yon sculptur'd wall, Bold prophets nations to repentance call! Ibid. v. 460 His chains rough-clanking to discordant groans. 1743 Francis tr. Hor., Odes iii. vii. 28 The rough-swelling tides. 1808 Jamieson s.v. Rouch, A profane swearer, a drunkard, &c. is called a rouch, or a rouch-living man. |
d. With
vbl. ns., as
rough-boring,
rough-editing,
rough-landing,
rough-rolling,
rough-schooling.
| 1853 Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 4) II. 509 Shingling..costs, in wages, 1s. 9d. per ton; and rough-rolling, 1s. 2d. 1890 Rep. Brit. Assoc. 939 The mild steel..is after forging and rough-boring subjected to the process of oil⁓hardening. 1909 Spectator 30 Oct. 678/2 Sir Percy Fitzpatrick is certainly right in picking out..the ‘rough-schooling of younger boys and companions’. 1959 Fortune July 157/1 A somewhat more difficult trip..will be the rough landing of a fifty-pound payload on the moon. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio vii. 117 Rough editing is assembling the main body of the programme in the right order and taking out the longer stretches of unwanted material. |
▪ VI. rough, v.1 (
rʌf)
Also 8
ruff.
[f. the adj.] I. 1. trans. † a. To raise a nap on (cloth);
= row v.
7 Obs.| 1483–4 Act 1 Rich. III, c. 8 §13 Tayntours..for evenynge of cloth onely after it commeth from the Mille and before it be roughed [AF. text roughez]. |
b. To turn, pull, scrape or rub
up, so as to make rough. Also
fig.| 1763 Mills Pract. Husb. III. 125 The wheat..felt a little rough in the hand, because, not having been stirred for six years, the little hairs that are at the extremity of the grain, and the particles of the bran, were roughed up. 1850 Holtzapffel Turning III. 1121 The face of the polisher is roughed up, or thoroughly scraped with an old razor blade or knife. 1879 Jefferies Wild Life 124 If the hurricane roughs up the straw on all the ricks in the parish. 1884 ― Life of Fields (1891) 171 It roughs them up the wrong way. |
c. To make rough; to ruffle.
| 1844 Mrs. Browning Dead Pan x, Thine eagle, blind and old, Roughs his feathers in the cold. 1875 R. Browning Aristoph. Apol. 114 Go ask my rivals..how they roughed my fleece. 1887 Daily News 29 Sept. 3/1 The salt water caused it to blister and roughed her bottom. |
d. spec. (See
quots.)
| 1825 Jennings Dial. W. Eng. p. xviii, To Rough, to roughen; particularly a horse's shoes. 1838 Holloway Prov. Dict., To rough, to put long headed nails into a horse's shoes to make them rough, and so prevent the horse from slipping in frosty weather. 1889 Gretton Memory's Harkback 152 The ordinary remedy was to ‘rough’ your horse; that is, to turn up the heels of the shoes, and fasten them with great-headed nails. |
2. a. To offend, grate upon (the ear).
| 1623 H. Sydenham Serm. (1637) 133 Those eares which have been stockt hitherto with the supple dialect of the Court..will not be rough't now with the course phrase of a reproofe. |
b. To use rough language to (a person); to ruffle (one).
| 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. iii, [He] lost no chance of roughing him in his replies. 1883 Cent. Mag. Sept. 737, I didn't mean to rough you when I said that. I don't want to hurt your feelings. |
c. To deal roughly with, ill-use. See also sense 6 g.
| 1845 W. G. Simms Wigwam & Cabin 1st Ser. 58 She [sc. a bear] roughed me once or twice more with her paws. 1868 Pall Mall G. 5 Oct. 4 This year a band of these Hungarians..were considerably roughed and mishandled. 1869 T. B. Aldrich Story Bad Boy 191 How tenderly the years touched him..!—all the more tenderly..for having roughed him so cruelly in other days. 1904 Baltimore American 1 Aug. 2 (heading) Badman roughs a train, but is shot in the hand by a plucky trainman. 1928 Daily Mail 25 July 12/4 Tunney knows he will be roughed and bustled around for the first few rounds. 1957 D. Niland Call me when Cross turns Over vi. 153 They grabbed Shelton and roughed him outside into the rising wind. 1971 Frendz 21 May 2/4 Cant put the rest down because the tin hats will rough my kin. 1978 N.Y. Times 29 Mar. b 6/5 The Mets..roughed Pete Falcone with a pair of runs apiece in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. |
3. intr. a. To become rough or stormy.
rare—1.
| 1876 Capt. R. F. Burton Gorilla L. I. 21 The cruel crawling sea began to rough, purr, and tumble. |
b. To bristle or ruffle
up.
| 1904 Sladen Lovers Japan xii, When a snake is drawn backwards, its scales rough up like cogs and hold it. |
II. 4. a. to rough it, to face or submit to hardships, rough or casual accommodation, etc.; to do without ordinary conveniences or luxuries; to live in a rough way.
| 1768 J. Byron Narr. Patagonia 205 We were obliged to ruff it the whole passage. c 1771 M. Suckling Let. in Southey Life of Nelson (1813) I. i. 5 What..has poor Horatio done,..that he..should be sent to rough it out at sea? 1796 Washington Writ. (1892) XIII. 341 Never having been accustomed to shift or rough it. 1826 Scott Jrnl. 20 Nov., The expense of travelling has mounted high. I am too old to rough it. 1879 Geo. Eliot Theo. Such ii. 37 Roughing it with them under difficulties. |
b. to rough (it) out: (see
out adv. 7 b).
| 1821 Scott Pirate xxix, We have no other course for it but to..rough it out as well as we can. 1833 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 404, I determined, to use a nautical expression, to rough it out. 1836 Backwoods of Canada 41, I might..have roughed out a year or so. |
5. trans. a. To break in (a horse).
| 1802 James Milit. Dict., To Rough Horses, a word in familiar use among the dragoons to signify the act of breaking in horses, so as to adapt them to military purposes. |
b. To expose (an animal) to rough weather and hard or scanty fare.
| 1858 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XIX. i. 147 The idea..that ‘roughing’ calves (which means exposing them to cold and hunger) makes them hardy. |
c. Austral. and
N.Z. To shear (a sheep) badly.
| 1878 ‘Ironbark’ Southerly Busters 180, I allus roughs 'em when the boss Ain't on the shearin' floor. 1897 D. McK. Wright Station Ballads 37 But he wouldn't shear at Maimai, started in to rough them through. 1956 G. Bowen Wool Away! (ed. 2) 156 Rough 'em, the opposite to ‘pink 'em’, and meaning rough shearing and a bad job of the sheep. |
III. 6. With various
advs. a. To trim or work
off in a rough fashion.
| 1789 G. Keate Pelew Isl. 96 Timber..which being cut down at the back of the island and roughed off, they could easily manage to bring round. |
b. To shape or cut
out roughly; to plan or sketch
out roughly.
| 1770 C. Carroll Let. 25 Apr. in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1917) XII. 352, I think you are wrong to Have the Capitalls &c. finished there, they may be defaced in the Carriage, w{suph} Danger would be avoided if only roughed out there. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §144 The two new steps..and all the dovetails were roughed out. 1820 W. Scoresby Acc. Arc. Reg. I. 232 In the formation of these lenses, I roughed them out with a small axe. 1843 Holtzapffel Turning I. 168 The stone is first roughed out with a point and mallet. 1875 Carpentry & Join. 113 He will rough out these at his own saw pit with the usual felloe saw. 1955 Times 4 Aug. 7/6 The first act has been already roughed out. a 1974 R. Crossman Diaries (1975) I. 370 By the early hours I had roughed out a reasonably intelligent script. |
c. To fill or work
in, to sketch
in, roughly.
| 1864 Blackmore Clara Vaughan xxi, I had just roughed in my outline. 1891 Kipling Light that Failed (1900) 129, I must rough 'em in with the pencil. |
d. To work
down (iron) into rods.
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 707 A steam engine of thirty-horse power can rough down in a week 200 tons of coarse iron. |
e. Mus. To tune
up roughly.
| 1889 Grove's Dict. Music IV. 554 As much proficiency in tuning as enabled him to ‘rough up’, the technical term for the first tuning of a pianoforte. |
f. To dig
out in a rough manner.
| 1887 Daily News 8 Feb. 6/3 Miners rough out the clay in the first place with pick and shovel, and..machinery finishes the circular cutting with mathematical accuracy. |
g. Const.
up. To deal roughly with, assault, damage, upset, intimidate;
= sense 2 c.
| 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §341/2 Treat roughly; ‘manhandle’{ddd}rough (up), rough-house, strong-arm, treat 'em rough. 1943 R. Chandler Lady in Lake (1944) xxxvi. 192 You know how to rough up a bum that hasn't any money. 1959 ‘M. M. Kaye’ House of Shade iii. 29 When am I supposed to have roughed up your room? 1963 Times 14 Jan. 3/1 They had roughed-up France's pack a year ago. 1970 M. Braithwaite Never sleep Three in Bed xi. 135 They began to rough us up and we kicked and pulled and yelled about what our dads would do if they didn't leave us alone. 1973 Time Out 2–8 Mar. 15/1 A lot of teachers got roughed up, but that's not to say beaten up. 1977 M. Goulder in J. Hick Myth of God Incarnate iii. 58 Not only must he be prepared to be roughed up by southern policemen; he must also risk assassination. 1978 N.Y. Times 30 Mar. d 19/4 But at that point, the Phillies dealt Bruhert a cruel blow. They roughed him up with six rapid-fire singles. 1978 J. A. Michener Chesapeake xiv. 864 Amos Turlock..led an expedition to Caveny's home, which had been roughed up but not destroyed. |
h. to rough down, to give (wood) a rough, preliminary planing.
Cf. roughing vbl. n. 2 b.
| 1960 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. XIV. 543/1 Flat or uniformly contoured surfaces of wood are roughed down, smoothed, or made level by the shaving and cutting action of a wide-edged blade or blades. |
7. a. To work or shape in a rough preliminary fashion.
| 1770 C. Carroll Let. 20 Apr. in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1917) XII. 351 The stone cutters wish to have a draft of the Bases & Capitalls, they could rough the stones to that draft, & save a great deal of carriage. 1815 Scoresby in Mem. Wernerian Soc. II. 270, I roughed them with a small axe. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 596 The piece of glass is now roughed into a circular form. 1850 Holtzapffel Turning III. 1034 The alabaster is roughed, or roughly ground on what the lapidary terms a roughing or lead mill. a 1890 E. L. Wilson Quarter Cent. Photogr. 35 (Cent.), In the grinding of a lens the first operation consists in roughing it, or bringing it approximately to the curvature it is ultimately to assume. 1937 Times 13 Apr. (British Motor No.) p. xii/2 Machines of particular interest are the Gleason completing machine for producing differential pinions, roughed and finished at a speed of 65 seconds each, and the lapping machines. |
b. To clean (grain) roughly.
| 1851 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XII. ii. 412 He..‘chaffs’ or ‘roughs’ the corn once over with a roughing-machine. |
c. To heckle (flax) roughly. See also
ruff v.
| 1882 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 665/1 In the case of heckling by machinery, the flax is first roughed and arranged in stricks, as above described under hand heckling. 1902 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 31 May 1341 The process of roughing, sorting, and hackling the flax. |
d. To subject to a partial or preliminary evacuation. Also with
down,
out.
| 1948 [implied in roughing down s.v. roughing vbl. n. 2 b]. 1971 Physics Bull. July 423/2 This consists of a large ion pump and liquid N2 cooled titanium sublimation pump combination, ‘roughed’ by two high capacity sorption pumps and an oil free mechanical roughing pump. 1976 A. Roth Vacuum Technol. v. 200 The removal of the atmospheric air from the system to some acceptable operating pressure is referred to as roughing out the system... Mechanical rotary pumps, and ejectors are the typical roughing and backing pumps. |
▪ VII. † rough, v.2 Obs. Forms: 4
rouwen, 5
row(w)hyn,
rewyn, 5–6
rough.
[ME. type *roȝen (rowen), corresponding in form to OHG. and MHG. rohen (ruhen) to roar, and in meaning to (M)Du. rochelen, G. röcheln.] intr. To cough, to hawk, to clear the throat.
| 13.. Old Age in Reliq. Antiq. II. 211, I rivele, I roxle, I rake, I rouwe. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 249/1 Hostyn, or rowhyn, or cowghyn (H., rowwhyn..), tussio. a 1470 H. Parker Dives & Pauper (W. de W. 1496) iv. iv. 164/1 He cought & roughed so, that his sone..myght haue no reste by hym in the chambre. a 1529 Skelton Col. Cloute 1223 Let hym cough, rough, or sneuyll. |
▪ VIII. rough obs. var. of
roe,
roof;
var. of
ruff v.