rogues' gallery

noun

1. a collection of portraits of criminals and suspects maintained by the police for purposes of identification.

rogues' gallery

noun

1. a collection of photographs of known criminals kept by the police for identification purposes

2. a group of undesirable people

Word History and Origins

Origin of rogues' gallery¹

First recorded in 1855–60

Idioms and Phrases

A police collection of pictures of criminals and suspects kept for identification purposes. For example, The detective went through the entire rogues' gallery but couldn't find a match with the suspect. [Mid-1800s]