Dictionary: ROU – RT

• ROUDY
n. Bk1913-17 Amer. dial. – an uncouth person

• ROUF
n. 1851 back-slang – four shillings or four pounds  

• A ROUF
n. 1950 Brit. sl. – four years imprisonment

• ROUF GENS
n. M19 back-slang – 4 shillings

• ROUF YENEPS
n. M19 back-slang – 4 pence

• ROUGE
n. Bk1942 Amer. sl. – red wine  

• ROUGH
adj. ill …a1893 sl., orig. Eng. dial.
n. a violent person; a thug; a ruffian …1837 sl.

• ROUGH AND TUMBLE
n. a good-natured tussle …Bk1905 Amer. dial.

• A ROUGH DEAL
n. unfair treatment …1931 sl.

• ROUGH-HEWN
adj. 1. roughly hewn or shaped out; roughly wrought; lacking the finishing process …1530
adj. 2. of rough or coarse manners; rude, ill-mannered, uncultivated, unpolished; blunt, rugged; also, rough-natured, cruel …1600 obs.

• ROUGH HOUSE
n. fighting; a fight, a brawl …1887 sl.
vb. to fight …1900 sl., orig. US

• ROUGHIE
n. a violent person; a thug; a ruffian …1905 sl.

• ROUGHNECK
adj. tough, rowdy …Bk1913-17 Amer. dial.
n. 1. (as ‘rough neck’) a quarrelsome or uncultivated person …1836 sl., orig. US
n. 2. (often as ‘rough-neck’)an uncouth person  …Bk1913-17 Amer. dial.
n. 3. (usually as ‘rough neck’) an oil-rig worker; esp. a labourer on the rig-floor …1917 sl., orig. US

• ROUGH-NECKEDNESS 
n. recklessness …Bk1942 Amer. sl.

• ROUGH RIDER
n. Theodore Roosevelt, twenty-sixth US President …Bk1942 Amer. sl.

• ROUGH-SCUFF
n. the lowest people, the rabble …Bk1905 Amer. dial.

• ROUGH SHAKE
n. 1. an unfair or difficult situation …E19 sl.
n. 2. bad luck …1950s

• ROUGH SIDE DOWNWARDS
adj. coarse-mannered, angry …Bk2002 Eng. dial.

• ROUGH SOMEONE UP
vb. to hit repeatedly; to assault by hitting …1942 sl.

• ROUGH TRADE
n. 1. a rough or especially lower-class person engaged in homosexual prostitution …1935 sl.
n. 2. male homosexual prostitute practices …1935 sl.
n. 3. someone picked up for male homosexual prostitute practices …1935 sl.

• ROUGH-UP
n. fighting; a fight, a brawl …1896 sl.

• ROUNDABOUTATION
n. 1812 arch. – a speaking in a roundabout or indirect way; circumlocution

• ROUND AND SQUARE
adv. B1900 rhyming sl. – everywhere

• ROUND AS A KAG
adj. 1818 Eng. dial. – quite round (kag = a keg or small cask)

• ROUNDER
n. 1. Bk1905 Amer. sl. – one who goes the rounds of saloons, etc.
n. 2. 1908 US sl. – a transient railway worker
n. 3. Bk1913-17 Amer. dial. – a loafer

• ROUNDEYE
n. applied by Asians to a European …1967 sl.

• ROUNDHEAD
n. a Swedish person; a Norwegian; a Polish person; a Finnish person …1965 Amer. dial.

• ROUND-HEELER
n. a gullible person; a dupe …Bk1942 Amer. sl.

• ROUND HEELS
n. a promiscuous woman …1926 sl., chiefly US, derogatory

• ROUNDHOUSE
n. a heavy blow delivered with a wide sweep of the arm …1920 sl., orig. US

• ROUND-LONG
adj. oblong …1668 obs.

• ROUNDSHAVE
vb. to scold; to reprimand severely; to abuse …1892 Eng. dial.

• ROUND THE BEND
adj. 1. 1929 sl. – insane, mad, crazy
adj. 2. 20C Amer. sl. – alcohol or drug intoxicated

• ROUND-THE-HOUSES
n. 1857 rhyming sl. – trousers

• ROUND THE TWIST
adj. 1960 Brit. sl. – insane, mad

• ROUSEABOUT
n. Bk1892 Aust. sl. – a drudge

• ROUSER
n. Bk1905 Amer. dial. – something very exciting or very great or excellent 

• ROUSING
adj. 1. Bk1942 Amer. sl. – astonishing
adj. 2. Bk1942 Amer. sl. – excellent; first-rate

• ROUST
vb. 1. 1904 Amer. sl. – to hit repeatedly; to assault by hitting
vb. 2. 1950s Amer. sl. – to arrest

• ROUSTABOUT
n. 1948 sl., orig. US – an oil-rig worker

• ROUTINARITY
n. 1868 nonce word – tendency to routine

• ROUTIOUS
adj. 1602 obs. – disorderly, riotous

• ROUZIE-BOUZIE
adj. 1693 obs. – uproariously drunk

• ROW AGAINST WIND AND TIDE
vb. 1867 – to undertake a difficult or arduous task; to work in adverse circumstances or in the face of opposition

• ROWDY
n. 1. Bk1903 sl. – money
n. 2. Bk1913-17 Amer. dial. – an uncouth person

• ROWDY-DOW
adj. 1832 – boisterous, rowdy, noisy
n. 1. 1783 – the sound of the beating of a drum
n. 2. 1845 – a disturbance; an uproar, a hubbub; a boisterous noise; a bitter quarrel
vb. 1966 – to be noisy or boisterous

• ROW IN
vb. 1897 sl. – to act in a group; to conspire

• ROWTY
adj. Bk1913-17 Amer. dial. – quarrelsome

• ROYAL
adj. Bk1942 Amer. sl. – excellent; first-rate
n. 1774 sl. – a member of the royal family; usually used in the plural

• ROYAL ALBERTS
n. L19 Aust. sl. – dress trousers

• ROYAL FLUSH
n. Bk1942 Amer. sl. – something excellent  

• ROYAL JOLLY
n. 19C sl. – a royal marine

• ROYAL NEPALESE
n. 1970 Brit. sl. – marijuana cultivated in Nepal  

• ROYAL SHAFT
n. 1983 US sl. – monumental mistreatment  

• ROYAL TRIMMING
n. Bk1942 Amer. sl. – chastisement  

• ROYLE
vb. Bk1903 sl. – to vex; to irritate; to disturb

• ROZ
n. 1971 sl. – a police officer

• ROZZER
n. 1. 1893 sl. – a police officer
n. 2. Bk1902 sl. – a police spy; an informer

• R.P.C.
n. c1950 Royal Navy usage – a party (Request the Please of your Company)