roué

American  

[roo-ay, roo-ay] / ruˈeɪ, ˈru eɪ /

noun

1. a dissolute and licentious man; rake.

   Synonyms:

   rakehell, bounder, cad, lecher, libertine, profligate

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roué British  

/ ˈruːeɪ /

noun

1. a debauched or lecherous man; rake

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Etymology

Origin of roué

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)

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Explanation

You can describe a smooth-talking, no-good man as a roue. You could also call him a lady's man, a rake, or a Lothario. This one deserves a full etymology: it's French, a participle of rouer, "to break on the wheel," and it's also the name first applied to the profligate companions of the Duc d'Orléans. So in other words, a roue is a really bad dude. Roue is not common in conversation but that didn't stop Oscar Hammerstein from lyricizing it in "The Sound of Music:" "Eager young lads and roues and cads / Will offer you food and wine."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

roué

Cohen’s persona in this middle passage was as a dapper roué, captured by the title of 1977’s Death of A Ladies’ Man, for which Elrod took the cover shot.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 13, 2016

None of this has prepared him to play a pre-revolutionary roué, he said.

From New York Times ● Sep. 20, 2016

And there is a reason Britain’s staid Economist magazine refers to Trump’s “look of a roué gone to seed.”

From Washington Post ● Jun. 22, 2016

Dire moves to curtail Pyros’s activity may be unnecessary, some specialists say, because there are signs the shaggy roué has lost a step.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2016

I am debarred the front stairs, which are open to that confounded roué Wilters.”

From Lady Maude's Mania by George Manville Fenn

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