rooky
Rascally, rakish, scampish.
English · UK & Ireland 714
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Where will you be? Anywhere UK & IrelandUnited StatesOnline slangBusiness jargon
Expressions you’ll hear in Britain and Ireland — distinctly British usage first, then widespread staples.
room
She lets out her fore room and lies backwards: saying of a woman suspected of prostitution.
roost
Synonymous with PERCH, which see.
rooster
A cock, whether bantam, game, barndoor, or of any other kind. This is an Americanism which obtains full currency on the other side of the Atlantic, though its use would infer that hens do not roost. As the outcome of transpontine delicacy it must, however, be respected.
rooter
Anything good, or of a prime quality; "that is a ROOTER," i.e., a first-rate one of the sort.
rope
To lose a race of any kind purposely, to swindle one’s backers or the public by means of a "cross" or pre-arranged race, in which the best man or best horse is made to ROPE, or run behind.
roper
MISTRESS, "to marry MRS. ROPER" is to enlist in the Royal Marines.
ropes
Upon the high ropes; elated, in high spirits, cock-a-hoop.
ropes
The ways of London lower life. "To know the ROPES," is to be conversant with the minutiæ of metropolitan dodges, as regards both the streets and the sporting world.
roping
The act of pulling or restraining a horse, by its rider, to prevent its winning a race—a trick not unfrequently practised on the turf. Also when a pedestrian or other athlete loses where he should have won, according to his backer’s calculations, he is accused of ROPING.
rory o’more
The floor. Also used to signify a whore.
rose
Under the rose: privately or secretly. The rose was, it is said, sacred to Harpocrates, the God of silence, and therefore frequently placed in the ceilings of rooms destined for the receiving of guests; implying, that whatever was transacted there, should not be made public.
rosin
Beer or other drink given to musicians at a dancing party.
rosin-the-bow
A fiddler. From a famous old song of that name.
rosy gills
One with a sanguine or fresh-coloured countenance.
rot
Nonsense, anything bad, disagreeable, or useless.
rot gut
Small beer; called beer-a-bumble--will burst one's guts before it will make one tumble.
rot-gut
Bad, small beer. See BUMCLINK. In America, cheap whisky.
rotan
A coach, cart, or other wheeled carriage.
rough
To lie rough; to lie all night in one's clothes: called also roughing it. Likewise to sleep on the bare deck of a ship, when the person is commonly advised to chuse the softest plank.
rough
Bad; "ROUGH fish," bad or stinking fish.—Billingsgate.
rough music
Saucepans, frying-paps, poker and tongs, marrow-bones and cleavers, bulls horns, &c. beaten upon and sounded in ludicrous processions.
rough-it
To put up with chance entertainment, to take pot-luck and what accommodation "turns up," without sighing for better.
roughs
Coarse, or vulgar men. By many thought to be RUFF, corruption of RUFFIAN.
rouleau
A number of guineas, from twenty to fifty or more, wrapped up in paper, for the more ready circulation at gaming-tables: sometimes they are inclosed in ivory boxes, made to hold exactly 20, 50, or 100 guineas.
rouleau
A packet of sovereigns.—Gaming.
round
To tell tales, to SPLIT, which see; "to ROUND on a man," to swear to him as being the person, &c. Synonymous with BUFF, which see. Also to turn round upon and abuse or rate. Shakspeare has ROUNDING, whispering.
round about
An instrument used in housebreaking. This instrument has not been long in use. It will cut a round piece about five inches in diameter out of a shutter or door.
round dealing
Plain, honest dealing.
round mouth
The fundament. Brother round mouth, speaks; he has let a fart.
round robin
A mode of signing remonstrances practised by sailors on board the king's ships, wherein their names are written in a circle, so that it cannot be discovered who first signed it, or was, in other words, the ringleader.
round the houses
Trousies,—vulgar pronunciation of trousers.
round un
An unblushingly given and well-proportioned lie. Sometimes known as a "whacker."
roundabout
A large swing with four compartments, each the size, and very much the shape, of the body of a cart, capable of seating six or eight boys and girls, erected in a high frame, and turned round by men at a windlass. Fairs and merry-makings generally abound with these swings. The frames take to pieces, and are carried in vans from fair to fair by miserable horses.
roundheads
A term of reproach to the puritans and partizans of Oliver Cromwell, and the Rump Parliament, who it is said made use of a bowl as a guide to trim their hair.
rout
A modern card meeting at a private house; also an order from the Secretary at War, directing the march and quartering of soldiers.
row
A disturbance; a term used by the students at Cambridge.
row
"the ROW," i.e., Paternoster Row. The notorious Holywell Street is now called by its denizens "Bookseller’s Row."
rowdy
Money. In America, a ruffian, a brawler, a "rough." Rowdyism is the state of being of New York roughs and loafers.
rowdy-dow
Low, vulgar "not the CHEESE," or thing.
rowland
To give a Rowland for an Oliver; to give an equivalent. Rowland and Oliver were two knights famous in romance: the wonderful achievements of the one could only be equalled by those of the other.
royal scamps
Highwaymen who never rob any but rich persons, and that without ill treating them. See SCAMP.
royal stag society
Was held every Monday evening, at seven o'clock, at the Three tuns, near the Hospital Gate, Newgate-street.
royster
A rude boisterous fellow; also a hound that opens on a false scent.
rub
A quarrel or impediment; "there’s the RUB," i.e., that is the difficulty.—Shakspeare and L’Estrange.
rubbed out
Dead,—a melancholy expression, of late frequently used in fashionable novels. RUBBED OUT is synonymous with WIPED OUT, which see.
rubber
A term at whist, &c., the best of three games.
ruck
The undistinguished crowd; "to come in with the RUCK," to arrive at the winning-post among the thick of the unplaced horses.—Racing term.
ruction
An Irish row. A faction fight.
ruff
An ornament formerly worn by men and women round their necks. Wooden ruff; the pillory.
ruffian
The devil. CANT.--May the ruffian nab the cuffin queer, and let the harmanbeck trine with his kinchins about his colquarren; may the Devil take the justice, and let the constable be hanged with his children about his neck. The ruffian cly thee; the Devil take thee. Ruffian cook ruffian, who scalded the Devil in his feathers; a saying of a bad cook. Ruffian sometimes also means, a justice.
rufflers
The first rank of canters; also notorious rogues pretending to be maimed soldiers or sailors.
ruffmans
The woods, hedges, or bushes. CANT.
rug
It is all rug; it is all right and safe, the game is secure. CANT.
rule
"To run the RULE over," is, among thieves, to try all a person’s pockets quietly, as done by themselves, or to search any one thoroughly, as at the police-station.
rule the roast
To be at the head of affairs, to be "cock of the walk."
rum
Fine, good, valuable.
rum
Like its opposite, QUEER, was formerly a much-used prefix, signifying fine, good, gallant, or valuable; perhaps in some way connected with ROME. Nowadays it means indifferent, bad, or questionable, and we often hear even persons in polite society use such a phrase as, "What a RUM fellow he is, to be sure," in speaking of a man of singular habits or appearance.
rum beck
A justice of the peace. CANT.
rum bite
A clever cheat, a clean trick.