rough

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
rough/rʌf/

▶adjective

• 1 having an uneven or irregular surface; not smooth or level.

• 2 not gentle; violent or boisterous: rough treatment.

  ■ (of weather or the sea) wild and stormy.

• 3 not finished tidily; plain and basic.

  ■ unsophisticated or unrefined.

• 4 not detailed or fully worked out: a rough draft of his new novel.

  ■ not precise; approximate: a rough guess.

• 5 (of a voice) harsh.

  ■ (of wine or another alcoholic drink) sharp or harsh in taste.

• 6 informal difficult and unpleasant.

▶noun

• 1 chiefly Brit. a disreputable and violent person.

• 2 (on a golf course) the area of longer grass around the fairway and the green.

• 3 a preliminary sketch.

• 4 an uncut precious stone.

▶verb

• 1 work or shape in a rough, preliminary fashion.

• 2 make uneven.

• 3 (rough it) informal live in discomfort with only basic necessities.

• 4 (rough someone up) informal beat someone up.

– phrases
bit of rough informal a male sexual partner whose toughness or lack of sophistication is a source of attraction.
in the rough

• 1 in a natural state; untreated or undecorated.

• 2 in difficulties.

rough and ready imprecise but effective.

■ unsophisticated or unrefined.

the rough edge (or side) of one's tongue a scolding.
rough edges small imperfections.
rough justice treatment that is not scrupulously fair or in accordance with the law.
sleep rough Brit. sleep in uncomfortable conditions, typically out of doors.
take the rough with the smooth accept the unpleasant aspects of life as well as the good.

– derivatives
roughish adjective,
roughness noun.

– origin OE rūh, of W. Gmc origin.