or bad. (From sense 1.) We have noth-
ing but one rotten problem after another.
This is the most rotten mess I’ve ever
been in.rotten applen. a single bad person or
thing. There always is a rotten apple to
spoil it for the rest of us. Tom sure has
turned out to be the rotten apple.
rotten eggn. a bad or despised person; a
stinker. That guy is a real rotten egg.
She sure has turned out to be a rotten
egg.
rotten luckn. bad luck. Of all the rot-
ten luck! I’ve had nothing but rotten
luck all day.
rotten to the coremod. really bad. (See
also rotten apple.) That lousy punk is
rotten to the core. The entire adminis-
tration is rotten to the core.
rough and readymod. vigorous and eager.
After a good night’s sleep, I feel rough
and ready—I could take on a bear. My
friend is the rough and ready type. I’d
rather sit and think about things.
rough and tumblemod. disorderly; ag-
gressive. That was a rough and tumble
football game. George is too rough and
tumble for me. He doesn’t know how to act
around civilized people.
roughhouse and roughneck 1. n. a mean
kid; a boisterous child, usually male.
Jimmy! Stop acting like such a roughhouse.
Tell that young roughneck to straighten
up and behave. 2. in. to be boisterous.
Stop roughnecking in my living room.
The boys broke the lamp when they were
roughnecking around in the family room.
rough ittv. to live for a short period of time
in a relatively primitive state. We w e n t
camping and had to rough it for a week.
With no electricity in our house, I roughed
it by burning candles.
roughneckGo to roughhouse.
rough someone uptv. to beat someone
up; to maltreat someone. Am I going to
have to rough you up, or will you cooper-
ate? TThe crooks roughed up the old lady
before taking her purse.
rough stuffn. unnecessary roughness;
physical violence or threats of violence.
Okay, let’s cut out the rough stuff!
There was too much rough stuff in Friday’s
game.rough timen. a hard time; a bad time.
I didn’t mean to give you such a rough
time. I’m sorry. What a rough time we
had getting the car started!roundhouse punchn. a punch to the head
made by swinging the arm in an arc
rather than by a jabbing punch. Jim
knocked Ted down with a roundhouse
punch. He let him have a roundhouse
punch that would have cracked a two-by-
four.round the bendGo to (a)round the bend.round trippern. a home run in baseball.
Ted is responsible for four round trip-
pers in Saturday’s game. He hit a round
tripper in the fourth inning.roundupn. a collection or summary of
news items, such as a weather roundup,
news roundup, etc. Tune in at eleven for
a roundup of the day’s news. Now for a
weather roundup.roust[raUst] 1. tv. [for a police officer] to
bother or interfere with someone; to ar-
rest someone. (See also rousted. Under-
world.) The cops rousted the gang with-
out warning. I was walking along doing
nothing, and this cop rousts me. 2. tv. to
raid someone’s residence; to bust a per-
son or place. (Underworld.) They
rousted Bart’s place last night. That bar
was rousted last week. 3. n. a raid or a
bust. Okay, stand still. This is a roust!
They pulled a big roust down on Fourth
Street.rousted[“raUst@d] mod. arrested. (Under-
world.) Bart got rousted last night.
The cops rousted the dealers, but that
didn’t even slow down the drug trade.royal painn. someone or something irri-
tating; a severe annoyance. You are a
royal pain! Her questions were a royal
pain, but I had to answer them as part of
my job.rotten apple