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Glite Dictionary
🏇 An outsider winner 😠 A bully 🛏️ A rough sleeper
roughie

roughie

9.9
A person who sleeps outdoors and has no home
  • noun
  • Slang
translation icon : sintecho
  • The roughie slept on the park bench.

Examples

  • She volunteers at a center that helps roughies get back on their feet.

  • Local fishermen say the roughie is especially active in the early morning.

  • The roughie found shelter under the bridge during the cold night.

  • Many roughies gather in the city center at night.

  • She volunteers at a center that helps roughies get back on their feet.

  • The roughie found shelter under the bridge during the cold night.

  • Many roughies gather in the city center at night.

Synonyms

roughy
vsroughie
2 8.1

A deep-sea fish with mild-tasting meat often eaten in restaurants

is used informally in some regions to mean the fish rather than the person
rough sleeper
vsroughie
  • UK
7.1

A person who sleeps outside because they have no home

is an informal slang word referring to that homeless person
rough fish
vsroughie
  • Jargon
8.1

A fish people do not want to eat, catch, or use as bait

is a slang label that sometimes names a fish without negative judgement

Surface Forms

roughie singular
roughies plural

Morphology

roughie = rough (semi-transparent) = rough + ie

The word is formed from rough plus the colloquial noun suffix -ie, but the sense 'rough sleeper' and the regional bird or fish senses are specialized and not fully predictable.

Etymology

Roughie comes from rough 'harsh' plus the informal ending -ie, like in 'doggie' or 'rookie'. So a roughie can mean a person who sleeps outdoors or a hardy bird or fish that lives in rough, cold places.