roué

[ roo-ey, roo-ey ]
See synonyms for roué on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a dissolute and licentious man; rake.

Origin of roué

1
1790–1800; <French, noun use of past participle of rouer to break on the wheel (derivative of roue wheel ≪ Latin rota); name first applied to the profligate companions of the Duc d'Orléans (c1720)

Other words for roué

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use roué in a sentence

  • I should shut my doors against her but for the sake of her nephew le roué, who is really a pretty young man.

    Leonora | Maria Edgeworth
  • But the old roué, who hopes to get possession of the fortune in a surer way, refuses, and their conversation turns into a quarrel.

  • I turned, and recognised in the somewhat roué-looking young man behind me Clarence Fairfax.

    Jasper Lyle | Harriet Ward
  • She seemed indifferent to the fate of this tender bud left at the mercy of one whom she affected to regard as a seasoned roué.

    Bunker Bean | Harry Leon Wilson
  • And yet she liked the noble old roué—liked him so infinitely better than she did Mr. Moss.

    The Landleaguers | Anthony Trollope

British Dictionary definitions for roué

roué

/ (ˈruːeɪ) /


noun
  1. a debauched or lecherous man; rake

Origin of roué

1
C19: from French, literally: one broken on the wheel, from rouer, from Latin rotāre to revolve, from rota a wheel; with reference to the fate deserved by a debauchee

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012