rogue

plural rogues · alternative misspelling rouge

1. A scoundrel, rascal or unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable person.

   And meet time it was, when yon usher, vinegar-faced rogue that he is, began to inquire what popish trangam you were wearing […]

   1820, [Walter Scott], The Abbot. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC

   3 more examples

   He had told more lies in his time, and undergone more baseness of stratagem in order to stave off a small debt, or to swindle a poor creditor, than would have sufficed to make a fortune for a braver rogue.

   1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC

   […] 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.

   1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad

   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.

   2012 July 18, Scott Tobias, “The Dark Knight Rises”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 18 Sep 2013

   Synonyms: antimodel, bad guy, baddie, bastard, beggar, blackguard, bounder, cad

2. A mischievous scamp.

   Ah, you sweet little rogue, you!

   c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]

3. A vagrant.
4. computingMalware that deceitfully presents itself as antispyware.

   Next, click the "Installed on" heading in the Windows 7 uninstaller to sort the list by date, and see if any programs have the same date and time stamps as your rogues.

   2013 October 31, “Windows PUPs: how do I remove potentially unwanted programs?”, in The Guardian

   2 more examples

   An entry in the Microsoft Malware Protection Center's Threat Research & Response Blog shows that rogue AV, also known as scareware, is ruling the malware roost, as 6 top of the 10 malicious programs removed by the MSRT (Malicious Software Removal Tool) in the US in October were 'rogues'.

   2009 October 29, Larry Seltzer, “Scareware Tops Microsoft's Malware List”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)

   Now though researchers at Microsoft's Malware Protection Center are reporting a downward trend in the traffic generated by some of the most popular rogues over the past 12 months.

   2014 August 20, Ian Barker, “Microsoft detects fall in fake antivirus traffic”, in BetaNews

5. An aggressive animal separate from the herd, especially an elephant.

   If he is a rogue, and there's any truth to territoriality at all, we got a good chance of spotting him between Cape Scott and South Beach.

   1975, Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb, Jaws, spoken by Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss)

6. AustraliaA horse, mule, or donkey that is difficult to control; a refractory horse, especially a racehorse.

   The rogues among the horses and mules sought every chance to break the line and hide under shady trees where sweet grass grew.

   1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 7

7. A plant that shows some undesirable variation.

   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.

   2000, Carol Deppe, Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties, Totnes: Chelsea Green Pub

8. roleplaying gamesA character class focusing on stealthy conduct.

   As a rogue, I weave together light and heavy attacks, sometimes holding a button longer to charge an attack and build up the stagger meter on an enemy.

   2025 February 28, Lauren Morton, “Review: Dragon Age: The Veilguard”, in PC Gamer (US), number 392, page 54; published online 28 October 2024

comparative more rogue · superlative most rogue · alternative misspelling rouge

1. especially an elephantVicious and solitary.

   Mosquito. One lone rogue mosquito.

   1995, Paul Vautin, Turn It Up!, Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, page 140

2. broadlyLarge, destructive and unpredictable.
3. broadlyDeceitful, unprincipled.

   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.

   2004, Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage

4. Mischievous, unpredictable.

   1 more example

   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.

   2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55

present singular third person rogues · participle present roguing · participle present rogueing · participle past rogued · past rogued · alternative misspelling rouge

1. agricultureTo cull; to destroy plants not meeting a required standard, especially when saving seed, rogue or unwanted plants are removed before pollination.

   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.

   2000, Carol Deppe, Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties, Totnes: Chelsea Green Pub

   1 more example

   Our skill as roguers was being tested. After we had rogued a field the field was inspected and the potatoes classified Stock Seed, A, B or H. In those days, between Stock seed and Class A, there was £2 per ton of potatoes difference.

   2015, David W. Torrance, The Reluctant Minister

2. datedtransitiveTo cheat.

   And then to think that Mark should have rogued me of five shiners! He was clever—that's a fact.

   1883, Prairie Farmer, volume 55, page 29

3. obsoleteTo give the name or designation of rogue to; to decry.

   he Atheists may endeavour to rogue and ridicule all incorporeal Substance

   1678, R[alph] Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe: The First Part; wherein All the Reason and Philosophy of Atheism is Confuted; and Its Impossibility Demonstrated, London: […] Richard Royston, […], →OCLC

4. intransitiveobsoleteTo wander; to play the vagabond; to play knavish tricks.

   if hee be but once so taken idlely roguing

   1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC

plural Rogues

1. A surname.