to sleep rough
1
8.1
- phrasal verb
- UK
:
dormir a la intemperie
- She decided to sleep rough instead of staying in a crowded shelter.
- people sleeping rough
Examples
-
They had to sleep rough.
Fiction book (2002) -
He sleeps rough every night.
-
Now, it may lack the comfort of home, but it's better than sleeping rough.
-
Once children are sleeping rough, they are highly vulnerable.
Academic text (2010) -
The sad reality is that many of the children who came to us had chosen to sleep rough rather than access statutory services.
Academic text (2010) -
A group of women who sleep rough in London refuse help, seeing homelessness as their choice.
Academic text (2011) -
Since I got back from Afghanistan I've been sleeping rough in the woods just on the road.
-
Are you sleeping rough?
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Case study: Beatrice. Beatrice is a 42-year-old Irish woman who has slept rough in and around two outer London boroughs for two and a half years.
Academic text (2011) -
Many homeless individuals are forced to sleep rough on the streets every night.
Synonyms
15
7.5
To live without usual comforts for a short time
Antonyms
How Sheltered
Surface Forms
Morphology
A learner who knows 'sleep' and 'rough' can infer a general sense of sleeping in harsh or uncomfortable conditions because 'rough' conveys hardship, so the expression is partly compositional. However, the specific meaning 'to sleep outdoors without shelter' (often implying homelessness) is a more language-specific extension and not fully predictable from the parts, so full comprehension may require prior exposure.
Etymology
Sleep rough comes from the picture of someone forced to sleep on hard, rough ground or a street instead of in a bed. So it means 'to sleep outdoors without shelter', often because someone has no home.