rough-and-tumble

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See also: rough and tumble

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

rough + and + tumble

Adjective

rough-and-tumble (comparative more rough-and-tumble, superlative most rough-and-tumble)

  1. active, vigorous and rough, with the possibility of harm
    • 1846, William Trotter Porter, A Quarter Race in Kentucky: And Other Sketches, page 115:
      An assistant about the theatre grappled him, and they were soon upon the floor engaged in a regular rough-and-tumble fight.
  2. highly competitive
    She found fame and success in the rough-and-tumble garment district.

Noun

rough-and-tumble (plural rough-and-tumbles)

  1. Rough activity; fighting or brawling; a fight.
    • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
      "You played Rugger for Ireland, did you not? You don't mind a possible rough-and-tumble, do you?" Malone grinned over the receiver.
    • 1995, Anthony Powell, A Dance to the Music of Time: First Movement, page 23:
      She liked ragging; but ragging — and nothing more — these rough-and-tumbles remained
    • 2000, Mark Michael Smith, The Old South, page 105:
      As for rough-and-tumbles, the Quaker saw no hope of suppressing them. Few nights passed without such fights […]
  2. An environment of rough activity
  3. A person who characteristically engages in such activity
    • 1854, William Chorlton, “The Culture of Celery”, in Luther Tucker, editor, The Horticulturist, and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste, page 166:
      This will appear a very tedious process to some of our rough-and-tumbles.

Translations

Verb

rough-and-tumble (third-person singular simple present rough-and-tumbles, present participle rough-and-tumbling, simple past and past participle rough-and-tumbled)

  1. Engage in rough-and-tumble activity
    • 1853, Thomas De Quincey, Historical and Critical Essays, page 4:
      But, for all that, our British experience of electioneering "rough-and-tumbling'" has long blunted the edge of our moral anger.
    • 1995, David Kenneth Wiggins, Sport in America: From Wicked Amusement to National Obsession, page 38:
      Although examples could be found throughout the South, rough-and-tumbling was best suited to the backwoods.
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