Rogue

Pronunciation

• RP enPR: rōg, IPA: /ˈɹəʊ̯ɡ/
• US IPA: /ˈɹoʊ̯ɡ/
• Rhymes: -əʊɡ

Origin

From either:

• ; see Breton rog ("haughty")
• Latin rogare ("to ask")
• Middle French rogue ("arrogant, haughty"), from Old Northern French rogre, Old Norse hrokr ("excess, exuberance"), though OED sees no evidence of this connection.

Full definition of rogue

Noun

1. A scoundrel, rascal or unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable person.
• 1913, w, Lord Stranleigh Abroad Chapter 4, “… No rogue e’er felt the halter draw, with a good opinion of the law, and perhaps my own detestation of the law arises from my having frequently broken it. …”
• July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Riseshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-dark-knight-rises-review-batman,82624/As The Dark Knight Rises brings a close to Christopher Nolan’s staggeringly ambitious Batman trilogy, it’s worth remembering that director chose The Scarecrow as his first villain—not necessarily the most popular among the comic’s gallery of rogues, but the one who set the tone for entire series.
2. A mischievous scamp.
• ShakespeareAh, you sweet little rogue, you!
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.
7. (role-playing games) A character class focusing on stealthy conduct.

Synonyms

• See

Adjective

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 (journalist), Character: Profiles in Presidential CourageIn 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.
4. Mischievous, unpredictable.
• 2013-06-29, Travels and travails, Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.

Verb

1. (horticulture) To cull; to destroy plants not meeting a required standard. 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.
2. (obsolete) To give the name or designation of rogue to; to decry.
3. (obsolete) To wander; to play the vagabond; to play knavish tricks.

Derived terms

Anagrams

• rouge