rogue

Wikipedia

English

Etymology

Middle French rogue (“arrogant, haughty”), from Old Northern French rogre, from Old Norse hrokr (“excess, exuberance”)

Pronunciation

• (RP) enPR: rōg, IPA: /ˈrəʊɡ/, SAMPA: /"r@Ug/
• (US) IPA: /ˈroʊɡ/, SAMPA: /"roUg/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊɡ

Noun

rogue (plural rogues)

1. A scoundrel, rascal or unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable person.
2. A mischievous scamp.
3. A vagrant.
4. Deceitful software pretending to be anti-spyware, but in fact being malicious software itself.
5. An aggressive animal separate from the herd, especially an elephant.
6. A plant that shows some undesirable variation.
   • 2000 Carol Deppe, Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties, Totnes: Chelsea Green Pub.

     Maintaining varieties also requires selection, however. It's usually referred to as culling or roguing. ...we examine the [plant] population and eliminate the occasional rogue.

Synonyms

• See wikisaurus:villain

Translations

a scoundrel, rascal or unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable person

French: canaille (fr) f., fripouille (fr) f., coquin (fr) m., voyou (fr) m.

Hawaiian: ʻeu

a mischievous scamp

French: garnement (fr) m.

Hawaiian: ʻeu

a vagrant

French: vagabond (fr) m., clochard (fr) m.

deceitful software pretending to be anti-spyware, but in fact being malicious software itself

an aggressive animal separate from the herd, especially an elephant

a plant that shows some undesirable variation

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

German: Schurke (de) m., Schelm (de) m.

Adjective

rogue (comparative more rogue, superlative most rogue)

1. (of an animal, especially an elephant) Vicious and solitary.
2. (by extension) Large, destructive and unpredictable.
3. (by extension) Deceitful, unprincipled.
   • 2004: Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage

     In the minds of Republican hard-liners, the "Silent Majority" of Americans who had elected the President, and even Nixon's two Democrat predecessors, China was a gigantic nuke-wielding rogue state prepared to overrun the free world at any moment.

Verb

rogue (third-person singular simple present rogues, present participle roguing, simple past and past participle rogued)

1. cull, term used by gardeners, especially when saving seed, rogue or unwanted plants are removed before pollination.
   • 2000 Carol Deppe, Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties, Totnes: Chelsea Green Pub.

     Maintaining varieties also requires selection, however. It's usually referred to as culling or roguing. ...we examine the [plant] population and eliminate the occasional rogue.

Derived terms

Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb rogue

roguish rogues' gallery

rogue state rogue trader rogue wave

See also

• rouge the shade of red

Anagrams

• rouge