rogue
/rəʊɡ
/noun
1A dishonest or unprincipled man: you are a rogue and an embezzler...
- Beginning in sixteenth-century England, a distinct criminal culture of rogues, vagabonds, gypsies, beggars, cony-catchers, cutpurses, and prostitutes emerged and flourished.
- In these tales, John may assume the posture of a rogue, naive rascal, or fool when he encounters an oppressive master who reminds him of his limited possibilities on the plantation.
- Before she can marry the prince, she finds herself kidnapped by a gang of rogues led by Vizzini.
Synonyms
scoundrel, villain, reprobate, rascal, good-for-nothing, wretch;
Spanish picaro
informal rat, bastard, son of a bitch, s.o.b., nasty piece of work, dog, cur, louse, crook
British informal scrote
Irish informal spalpeen
North American informal slicker
West Indian informal scamp
informal, dated rotter, bounder, hound, blighter, vagabond
dated cad, ne'er-do-well
archaic miscreant, blackguard, dastard, knave, varlet, wastrel, mountebank, picaroon
1.1A person whose behaviour one disapproves of but who is nonetheless likeable or attractive: Cenzo, you old rogue!...
- In fact, it's difficult to know whether it's a comedy at all, or just an entertaining movie about likeable rogues.
- He plays the likeable rogue who uses an outlawed method of fishing: blowing the fish out of the water with dynamite.
- With a new actor assaying the role, Dov ceases to be a charming rogue and becomes a bit of a jerk.
Synonyms
scamp, rascal, imp, devil, monkey, mischief-maker
informal scallywag, monster, horror, terror, holy terror
British informal perisher
Northern English informal tyke, scally
North American informal hellion, varmint
archaic scapegrace, rapscallion
2 [usually as modifier] An elephant or other large wild animal living apart from the herd and having savage or destructive tendencies: a rogue elephant...
- The film describes the hunting down of a rogue elephant in Assam.
- Embarrassed, Nadeem changed the subject to the damage a rogue elephant can do.
2.1A person or thing that behaves in an aberrant or unpredictable way, typically with damaging or dangerous effects: he hacked into data and ran rogue programs a rogue cop who took the law into his own hands...
- The cheerful officer takes over the station, just as a rogue Minbari warship comes looking for trouble.
- Both sequels are based on Robert Ludlum novels about a rogue CIA super assassin.
- With organic farming, songs from k d lang and some cracking yodelling from our rogue maverick rap star, complaints should only raise a whisper.
2.2A seedling or plant deviating from the standard variety.
verb [with object]
Remove inferior or defective plants or seedlings from (a crop): the sowing has to be rogued to remove aberrant seedlings...
- If the inspector finds too many plants with virus, the grower needs to clean up the field by roguing and carrying the diseased plants out of the field.
- Most varieties won't be found in the US and many of the older ones have degenerated from the original because of being raised from seed not properly rogued.
- Most varieties require careful roguing and selection to maintain or improve them.
Origin
Mid 16th century (denoting an idle vagrant): probably from Latin rogare 'beg, ask', and related to obsolete slang roger 'vagrant beggar' (many such cant terms were introduced towards the middle of the 16th century).