rough-hewn, ppl. a.
(ˈrʌfhjuːn)
[rough adv. Cf. rough-hew v.]
1. Roughly hewn or shaped out, roughly wrought; lacking the finishing process.
| 1530 Palsgr. 694/2 It is rough hewen all redy, I wyll nowe fall a karvynge of it. 1592 Nashe P. Penilesse Wks. (Grosart) II. 35 Their heads, like rough hewen Gloabes, are fit for nothing but to be the blockhouses for sleepe. a 1631 Donne Elegy viii, Thy head is like a rough-hewn statue of jeat. 1800 Wordsw. Hart-Leap Well i. xvii, Three several pillars, each a rough-hewn stone. 1833 H. Martineau Charmed Sea ii. 16 The holes between the rough-hewn logs were stuffed with moss. 1852 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 179 A statue that had been perfectly polished in front, and left rough-hewn behind. |
b. transf. and
fig.| 1593 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 300 Smooth voyces do well in most societies.., when rough⁓hewne words do but lay blockes in their own way. 1608 D. T. Ess. Pol. & Mor. 66 b, To polish and fashion out his then rough-hewen fortune, with the edge of his subduing sword. 1672 Dryden Assignation iii. i, Lord, what a Monster of a Man is there! With such a Workiday, rough-hewn Face too! 1718 Pope Arachne 172 In a strong satyr's rough-hewn form he came. 1856 R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 41, I give these remarks just as I find them, brief and rough-hewn. 1865 Kingsley Herew. ii, Envy and hatred, like all other vices in those rough-hewn times, were apt to take very startling..shapes. |
2. Of persons: Lacking in refinement; uncultivated, plain, blunt;
† rough-natured, cruel.
| 1600 Holland Livy ii. lvi. 82 Being a rough hewen souldiour, and not used to make Orations. 1609 ― Amm. Marcell. xxx. i. 380 A barbarous and rough hewen fellow,..shaking a drawne sword in his hand. 1660 Willsford Scales Commerce 149 But leaving the rough-hewn and cross⁓grain'd people to their own imaginations. 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 356 The English Man reply'd like a true rough-hewn Tarpaulin. 1744 Ozell tr. Brantome's Sp. Rhodom. 95 A brave, bold, rough-hewn Gentleman of Britany. 1831 Scott Ct. Rob. iii, The rough-hewn native of the north. 1892 Month Nov. 310 Rough-hewn rustics without manners. |
| transf. 1604 F. Herring Mod. Defence 16 Medecines... The third and last are termed Violent, churlish or rough⁓hewen. |