Rough-and-tumble

Alternative forms

• rough and tumble

Origin

rough + and + tumble

Full definition of rough-and-tumble

Adjective

1. active, vigorous and rough, with the possibility of harm
2. highly competitiveShe found fame and success in the rough-and-tumble garment district.

Noun

1. Rough activity; fights
• 1995, Anthony Powell, A Dance to the Music of Time: First Movement, page 23She liked ragging; but ragging — and nothing more — these rough-and-tumbles remained
• 2000, Mark Michael Smith, The Old South, page 105As for rough-and-tumbles, the Quaker saw no hope of suppressing them. Few nights passed without such fights ….
2. An environment of rough activity
3. A person who characteristically engages in such activity
• 1854, William Chorlton, "The Culture of Celery", in The Horticulturist, and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste, ed. by Luther Tucker, page 166This will appear a very tedious process to some of our rough-and-tumbles.

Verb

1. Engage in rough-and-tumble activity
• 1853, Thomas De Quincey, Historical and Critical Essays, page 4But, for all that, our British experience of electioneering "rough-and-tumbling'" has long blunted the edge of our moral anger.
• 1995, David Kenneth Wiggins, Sport in America: From Wicked Amusement to National Obsession, page 38Although examples could be found throughout the South, rough-and-tumbling was best suited to the backwoods.