1623. Massinger, Duke of Milan, i. 1. Your lord, by his patent, stands bound to take his rouse.
1840. Tennyson, Vision of Sin. Fill the cup and fill the can, Have a rouse before the morn.
3. (thieves').—See quot.
1888. Ev. Standard, 26 Dec. If the constable did not allow him to go to the station in a cab he would rouse (a slang term for fighting).
Rouser, subs. (common).—Generic
for anything exceptional. Hence
rousing = very, great, startling,
exciting.
1677. Coles, Eng.-Lat. Dict. A rousing lye, mendacium magnificum.
1719. Durfey, Pills to Purge, i. 264. She grown coy, Call'd him Boy, He getting from her cry'd, Zoons, you'r a rouzer.
1767. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vi. 109. A Jew . . . had the ill-luck to die . . . and leave his widow in possession of a rousing trade.
1868. Putnam's Mag., Jan. He is a rouser at making punch.
1893, Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, 64. We made the whole place ring a rouser, till Jolter implored us to stop.
2. (old).—A tremendous fart.
1731. Swift, Strephon and Chloe, . . . Let fly a rouser in her face.
Roust, subs. (old).—1. The act of
kind; whence, as verb. = to
copulate: see Greens and Ride.
1599. Hall, Satires, iv. 1. And with her cruel lady-star uprose She seeks her third roust on her silent toes.
Verb. (old).—1. See subs.; (2) to frisk; to disturb; to shift; (3) to steal: see Roustabout.
1599. Hall, Satires, iv. 2. While yet he rousteth at some uncouth signe
1821. Haggart, Life, 66. She raised the doun that the swag was rousted. Ibid., 90. Some coves were rousting ronnies.
Roustabout (Rouse-about or
Rouser), subs. (common).—1.
See quots.; (2) a fidget, and (3)
a term of contempt.
1868. Putnam's Mag., Sept., 'On the Plains.' As the steamer was leaving the levee, about forty black deck-hands or roustabouts gathered at the bow, and sang a rude Western sailor's song.
1871. De Vere, Americanisms, 225. The Western rough is frequently a roust-*about—a term evidently derived from the old English roust, quoted by Jamieson as meaning to disturb. He is noisy, but not necessarily a rowdy, and frequently a useful member of society in some capacity which requires hard work and constant exposure.
1883. Edw. E. Morris [Longman's Mag., June, 178]. This poor young man had been a roustabout hand on a station [in Australia] (a colonial expression for a man who can be put to any kind of work).
1890. New York Sun, 23 Mar. An old Mississippi roustabout.
1894. Sydney Morning Herald, 6 Oct. A rougher person—perhaps a happier—is the rouseabout, who makes himself useful in the shearing shed . . . sometimes . . . spoken of as a roustabout.
[?]. American [Century]. Men . . . who used to be rousters, and are now broken down and played out.
Rout, subs. (old).—1. A fashionable
party; and (2) 'a card
party at a private house' (Grose).
As verb. = to assemble in company.
1775. Sheridan, Rivals, i. 1. A tall Irish baronet she met . . . at Lady Macshuffle's rout.
18[?]. Macaulay [Trevelyan, i. 265]. I have attended a very splendid rout at Lord Grey's.
Router, subs. (old).—A cow: hence
router-putters = cows'-feet
(Haggart).
Rove, verb. (old: now recognised).—'To
wander idly up and down.'—B.
E. (c. 1696).
Rover, subs. (American).—1. See
quot.
