roué
Americannoun
noun
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)
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."
Vocabulary lists containing roue
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To be sure, the familiar conventions of romance literature are here in abundance: the aristocratic curled lip, the languid glance, sparkling eyes and a middle-aged blue-blood roué reformed by a plucky young woman.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 10, 2022
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
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
A libertine history and the look of a roué gone to seed would not in themselves preclude the support of evangelical Christians, who are, after all, keen on repentance.
From Economist ● Mar. 3, 2016
I should say, 'My princess, the regent must have been warned by his police, for he did not leave as we expected, and we saw none but his roué companions.'
From The Conspirators The Chevalier d'Harmental by Dumas père, Alexandre
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
