Definitions

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

  • noun A man who recklessly indulges in sensual pleasures; a rake.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A man devoted to a life of pleasure and sensuality, especially in his relation to women; a debauchee; a rake.

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

  • noun One devoted to a life of sensual pleasure; a debauchee; a rake.

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

  • noun A debauched or lecherous person.

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

  • noun a dissolute man in fashionable society

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from past participle of rouer, to break on a wheel (from the feeling that such a person deserves that punishment), from Old French, from Latin rotāre, to rotate; see rotate.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Borrowing from French roué.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word roué.

Examples

    Sorry, no example sentences found.

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Also listed as roue.

    September 14, 2008

  • "Linglay was a sixty-five-year-old rouge-wearing roué who looked about ninety, collected obscene snuffboxes, and pinched and fondled every serving girl foolish enough to come within reach of his palsied hands. He had not been expected to survive the wedding night." - from Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase

    February 4, 2017