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Rough   /rəf/   Listen
adjective
Rough  adj.  (compar. rougher; superl. roughest)  
1.
Having inequalities, small ridges, or points, on the surface; not smooth or plain; as, a rough board; a rough stone; rough cloth. Specifically:
(a)
Not level; having a broken surface; uneven; said of a piece of land, or of a road. "Rough, uneven ways."
(b)
Not polished; uncut; said of a gem; as, a rough diamond.
(c)
Tossed in waves; boisterous; high; said of a sea or other piece of water. "More unequal than the roughest sea."
(d)
Marked by coarseness; shaggy; ragged; disordered; said of dress, appearance, or the like; as, a rough coat. "A visage rough." "Roughsatyrs."
2.
Hence, figuratively, lacking refinement, gentleness, or polish. Specifically:
(a)
Not courteous or kind; harsh; rude; uncivil; as, a rough temper. "A fiend, a fury, pitiless and rough." "A surly boatman, rough as wayes or winds."
(b)
Marked by severity or violence; harsh; hard; as, rough measures or actions. "On the rough edge of battle." "A quicker and rougher remedy." "Kind words prevent a good deal of that perverseness which rough and imperious usage often produces."
(c)
Loud and hoarse; offensive to the ear; harsh; grating; said of sound, voice, and the like; as, a rough tone; rough numbers.
(d)
Austere; harsh to the taste; as, rough wine.
(e)
Tempestuous; boisterous; stormy; as, rough weather; a rough day. "He stayeth his rough wind." "Time and the hour runs through the roughest day."
(f)
Hastily or carelessly done; wanting finish; incomplete; as, a rough estimate; a rough draught.
Rough diamond, an uncut diamond; hence, colloquially, a person of intrinsic worth under a rude exterior.
Rough and ready.
(a)
Acting with offhand promptness and efficiency. "The rough and ready understanding."
(b)
Produced offhand. "Some rough and ready theory."


noun
Rough  n.  
1.
Boisterous weather. (Obs.)
2.
A rude fellow; a coarse bully; a rowdy.
In the rough, in an unwrought or rude condition; unpolished; as, a diamond or a sketch in the rough. "Contemplating the people in the rough."


verb
Rough  v. t.  
1.
To render rough; to roughen.
2.
To break in, as a horse, especially for military purposes.
3.
To cut or make in a hasty, rough manner; with out; as, to rough out a carving, a sketch.
Roughing rolls, rolls for reducing, in a rough manner, a bloom of iron to bars.
To rough it, to endure hard conditions of living; to live without ordinary comforts.


adverb
Rough  adv.  In a rough manner; rudely; roughly. "Sleeping rough on the trenches, and dying stubbornly in their boats."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Rough" Quotes from Famous Books



... national sentiment, the land is barren, statues and churches will not grow—for they have to grow, as much as trees and flowers. But this moral disadvantage which lay so heavily upon the early Victorian sculpture lies in a modified degree upon that rough, picturesque, commonplace sculpture which has begun to arise, and of which the statue of Darwin in the South Kensington Museum and the statue of Gordon in Trafalgar Square are admirable examples. It is not enough for a popular monument ...
— The Defendant • G.K. Chesterton
... of sunlight. Young girls, with flowers in their laps, sat under the wide-spreading boughs of a big tree. The blue smoke of wood fires spread in a thin mist above the high-pitched roofs of houses that had glistening walls of woven reeds, and all round them rough wooden pillars under the sloping eaves. He dispensed justice in the shade; from a high seat he gave orders, advice, reproof. Now and then the hum of approbation rose louder, and idle spearmen that lounged listlessly ...
— Tales of Unrest • Joseph Conrad
... and Jermin, forced to a compromise, followed after, in his torn frock and scarred face, looking for all the world as if he had just disentangled himself from some intricate piece of machinery. For about half an hour both remained in the cabin, where the mate's rough tones were heard high above the low, smooth voice of ...
— Omoo: Adventures in the South Seas • Herman Melville
... sailor's life is a dog's life at best! Besides, you are not fit for a sailor, either by habits, taste, or constitution. With such a pale face, and slight figure, and sheepish look, how can you expect to fight the battle of life on the ocean, and endure all the crosses, the perils, and the rough-and-tumble of a sailor's life? Hawser, you are not fit for a sailor. You had much better go home and ...
— Jack in the Forecastle • John Sherburne Sleeper
... the rough-ironed table-linen, the thick tooth-glasses for the drinks, the slummocky set-out of victuals at meals, to the unaccommodating regulations in the curtainless cabin, where they had not yet arrived at bunk-edge trays for morning tea, time and progress had stood still with the P. & O. To be just, ...
— Letters of Travel (1892-1913) • Rudyard Kipling


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