The Collaborative International Dictionary
Rogue \Rogue\, n. [F. rogue proud, haughty, supercilious; cf. Icel. hr?kr a rook, croaker (cf. Rook a bird), or Armor. rok, rog, proud, arogant.]
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(Eng.Law) A vagrant; an idle, sturdy beggar; a vagabond; a tramp.
Note: The phrase rogues and vagabonds is applied to a large class of wandering, disorderly, or dissolute persons. They were formerly punished by being whipped and having the gristle of the right ear bored with a hot iron.
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A deliberately dishonest person; a knave; a cheat.
The rogue and fool by fits is fair and wise.
--Pope. -
One who is pleasantly mischievous or frolicsome; hence, often used as a term of endearment.
Ah, you sweet little rogue, you!
--Shak. An elephant that has separated from a herd and roams about alone, in which state it is very savage.
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(Hort.) A worthless plant occuring among seedlings of some choice variety.
Rogues' gallery, a collection of portraits of rogues or criminals, for the use of the police authorities.
Rogue's march, derisive music performed in driving away a person under popular indignation or official sentence, as when a soldier is drummed out of a regiment.
Rogue's yarn, yarn of a different twist and color from the rest, inserted into the cordage of the British navy, to identify it if stolen, or for the purpose of tracing the maker in case of defect. Different makers are required to use yarns of different colors.
Usage examples of "rogue's yarn".
And there's no rogue's yarn in it,' he said, teasing out an end with his marlin-spike.
Every inch or so was flecked with a coloured yarn - 'The Rogue's Yarn', a strand put in when the rope was made up in the Royal dockyards, so if it was stolen it would always be recognizable as Navy Board property.
Had he - and Southwick, and Commodore Nelson, and perhaps half the commission and warrant officers in the Fleet - a Rogue's Yarn woven into their souls that set them apart from other people, that let them kill their own men and the enemy without compunction?