Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Behavior characteristic of a rogue.
  • noun A mischievous act.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The life of a vagrant; vagabondism.
  • noun Knavish tricks; cheating; fraud; dishonest practices.
  • noun Waggery; arch tricks; mischievousness.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete The life of a vargant.
  • noun The practices of a rogue; knavish tricks; cheating; fraud; dishonest practices.
  • noun Arch tricks; mischievousness.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun malicious or reckless behaviour
  • noun mischievous behaviour

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun reckless or malicious behavior that causes discomfort or annoyance in others

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Scott's brother was wounded and afterwards arrested & lodged in jail at Bilboe's instance -- charge "roguery" --

    Diary of Jason Niles (1814-1894) : June 22, 1861-December 31, 1864, 1864

  • Emperor Charles V., an accomplished soldier and a learned historian -- such was the creator of the hungry rogue Lazarillo, and the founder of the "picaresque" school of fiction, or the romance of roguery, which is not yet extinct.

    The World's Greatest Books — Volume 06 — Fiction Various 1909

  • So all he gained by his roguery was a burnt skin and nothing to show for it; and that has happened more than once to rogues whose wits are so sharp that they cut their own fingers with them.

    The Wonder Clock 1887

  • We live, Augustus, in an age eminently favorable to the growth of all roguery which is careful enough to keep up appearances.

    Armadale 2003

  • I do not think that the grand, old anti-slavery pioneer went to his grave thinking there was any 'roguery' in me.

    Frederick Douglass The Colored Orator. 1895

  • We live, Augustus, in an age eminently favorable to the growth of all roguery which is careful enough to keep up appearances.

    Armadale Wilkie Collins 1856

  • The general complained to the governor of Pennsylvania on May 24 about the folly of Mr. Dinwiddie and the roguery of the Assembly, and unless the road of communication from your province is opened and some contracts made . . .

    George Washington’s First War David A. Clary 2011

  • The general complained to the governor of Pennsylvania on May 24 about the folly of Mr. Dinwiddie and the roguery of the Assembly, and unless the road of communication from your province is opened and some contracts made . . .

    George Washington’s First War David A. Clary 2011

  • The general complained to the governor of Pennsylvania on May 24 about the folly of Mr. Dinwiddie and the roguery of the Assembly, and unless the road of communication from your province is opened and some contracts made . . .

    George Washington’s First War David A. Clary 2011

  • The general complained to the governor of Pennsylvania on May 24 about the folly of Mr. Dinwiddie and the roguery of the Assembly, and unless the road of communication from your province is opened and some contracts made . . .

    George Washington’s First War David A. Clary 2011

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  • I dilated all my pilgrimage, and he spake of most disastrous chances, of moving accidents through which he had passed even from his boyish days to this very moment of his ripe and rampant roguery.

    - Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 5 ch. 1

    September 19, 2008