roughie dial. and slang.
(ˈrʌfɪ)
Also roughy.
[f. rough n.1 + -ie, -y6.]
1. A rough or rowdy; a brawler; a hooligan.
| 1905 Eng. Dial. Dict. V. 158/1 Roughy, sb. Sc. Irel. 1 A coarsely made, bullying fellow. Ant. Grose (1790) MS. add. (C.) 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Nov. 33/1 With such a lot of roughies in the hall. 1953 Amer. Speech XXVIII. 118 Rough, roughy, n. A carnival roustabout, a manual labourer. 1966 W. S. Ramson Austral. Eng. iv. 62 Roughie, meaning ‘a coarsely made, bullying fellow’ was used in both Scotland and Ireland. 1971 P. Driscoll White Lie Assignment vii. 60, I know a roughie when I see one... He's just one of those blokes who can't stay away from trouble. |
2. Austral. In dog- and horse-racing: an outsider.
| 1934 ‘S. Rudd’ Green Grey Homestead 155 Those who had lost a wager or two will turn to Bell and say: ‘You knew something about the roughie!’ 1951 Cusack & James Come in Spinner 40 He's a roughie so 'e'll go out at long odds. 1958 F. Hardy Four-Legged Lottery 14, I might just have a shilling on a roughie. 1973 Sun-Herald (Sydney) 26 Aug. 58/2 Punters were reluctant to support him... Consequently Pepper Moss went out as a 12–1 ‘roughie’. |
3. Austral. A trick, an unfair practice; esp. in phr. to put a roughie over.
| 1939 K. Tennant Foveaux ii. i. 122 Kelly put a roughie over Charlie to-day. Ibid. iii. ii. 151 ‘They're putting over a roughie at Central,’ the secretary..mentioned casually. 1945 Baker Austral. Lang. xv. 265 A roughie, toughie, hottie, crookie, swiftie, smartie will all be heard in male conversation to describe a joke or trick that is either agreeable or disagreeable. 1970 R. Beilby No Medals for Aphrodite 269, I bluffed him, put a roughie over him. |