ˈrougher
(ˈrʌfə(r))
[f. rough v. or a. + -er.]
1. A workman who makes something in the rough; one who carries out the less finished operations of a work.
| 1885 Census Instruct. Index. a 1890 E. L. Wilson Quarter Century in Photogr. 35 (Cent.), When the glass [for a lens] is handed to the rougher, it is round in shape. 1893 Labour Comm. Gloss., Roughers, the workers in the iron industry employed at the ‘rolls’. |
2. Weaving. A piece of cloth taken from the loom and ready for perching.
| 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 661/2 Woollen cloth from the loom, called ‘roughers’, has an irregular, slack aspect. |
3. A board studded with steel spikes or teeth for heckling flax. Cf. ruffer2.
| 1882 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 665/1 The heckler..dashes the fibre into the teeth or needles of the rougher or ‘ruffer’ heckle. The rougher is a board plated with tin [etc.]. |
4. colloq. A rough-rider.
| 1901 Daily Express 28 Aug. 6/6 Lord Maitland..served at the Cape as adjutant of the prototype ‘Roughers’. |