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rowdy

[rou-dee]
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noun, plural row·dies.
  1. a rough, disorderly person.
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adjective, row·di·er, row·di·est.
  1. rough and disorderly: rowdy behavior at school.
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Origin of rowdy

1810–20, Americanism; perhaps irregular from row3
Related formsrow·di·ly, adverbrow·di·ness, nounun·row·dy, adjective

Synonyms

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2. boisterous, unruly, obstreperous.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

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Examples from the Web for rowdily

Historical Examples

  • He drank a little, but rowdily, and managed to spend in a cheap tavern like the Volga as much as twenty roubles in an evening.

    The House with the Mezzanine and Other Stories

    Anton Tchekoff

British Dictionary definitions for rowdily

rowdy

adjective -dier or -diest
  1. tending to create noisy disturbances; rough, loud, or disorderlya rowdy gang of football supporters
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noun plural -dies
  1. a person who behaves in a rough disorderly fashion
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Derived Formsrowdily, adverbrowdiness, noun

Word Origin

C19: originally US slang, perhaps related to row ³
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for rowdily

rowdy

n.

"a rough, quarrelsome person," 1808, American English, originally "lawless backwoodsman," probably from row (n.2). The adjective is first recorded 1819. Related: Rowdily; rowdiness.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper