Dictionary

rorty en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈɹɔː(ɹ)ti/

Etymology

19th century UK. Unknown etymology. Farmer (1903) categorises the term as costermongers' slang.

Meanings

1. (UK, informal) Boisterous, rowdy, saucy, dissipated, or risqué.
   • But compared with the heavy, muffling darkness of the night in which the countryside was sunk, the lights looked positively rorty 1932, Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm:
   • "Tell us a good story, Rodney — one of your rorty ones." / Mr. Rodney shrivelled. / "I fear," he murmured — "I fear I am scarcely in the — er — rorty vein to-night." 1898, Robert Smythe Hichens, The Londoners, page 280:
   • Any speed any gear it doesn't matter. The 2Eleven's got an enormous powerband huge performance and the rortiest exhaust I've heard in an Elise-based car 2007 May 31, “Lotus 2-Eleven - Road Test First Drive”, in Autocar:

Forms

Deriveds

rorty toff · rortiness · rorty bloke · rorty dasher