English

Alternative spellings

• rough and tumble

Etymology

From rough + and + tumble.

Adjective

1. active, vigorous and rough, with the possibility of harm
2. highly competitive
3. : She found fame and success in the rough-and-tumble garment district.

Noun

1. Rough activity; fights
2. * 1995, Anthony Powell, A Dance to the Music of Time: First Movement, page 23
3. *: She liked ragging; but ragging — and nothing more — these rough-and-tumbles remained
4. * 2000, Mark Michael Smith, The Old South, page 105
5. *: As for rough-and-tumbles, the Quaker saw no hope of suppressing them. Few nights passed without such fights […].
6. An environment of rough activity
7. A person who characteristically engages in such activity
8. * 1854, William Chorlton, "The Culture of Celery", in The Horticulturist, and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste, ed. by Luther Tucker, page 166
9. *: This will appear a very tedious process to some of our rough-and-tumbles.

Verb

1. Engage in rough-and-tumble activity
2. * 1853, Thomas De Quincey, Historical and Critical Essays, page 4
3. *: But, for all that, our British experience of electioneering "rough-and-tumbling'" has long blunted the edge of our moral anger.
4. * 1995, David Kenneth Wiggins, Sport in America: From Wicked Amusement to National Obsession, page 38
5. *: Although examples could be found throughout the South, rough-and-tumbling was best suited to the backwoods.

vi:rough-and-tumble zh:rough-and-tumble