Dictionary

rough-and-tumble en · ADJ

Etymology

From rough + and + tumble.

Meanings

1. Active, vigorous and rough, with the possibility of harm.
   • [To Sonny] When you look in a mirror, you see this rough-and-tumble old-school cowboy. Doesn't take orders, goes his own way, huh? A lone wolf. Well, I have news for you: Formula One is a team sport. It always was. 2025, Ehren Kruger, F1: The Movie, spoken by Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon):
   • An assistant about the theatre grappled him, and they were soon upon the floor engaged in a regular rough-and-tumble fight. 1846, William Trotter Porter, A Quarter Race in Kentucky: And Other Sketches, page 115:
2. Highly competitive.
   • She found fame and success in the rough-and-tumble garment district.

Forms

rough-and-tumble en · NOUN

Etymology

From rough + and + tumble.

Meanings

1. Rough activity; fighting or brawling; a fight.
   • "You played Rugger for Ireland, did you not? You don't mind a possible rough-and-tumble, do you?" Malone grinned over the receiver. 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
   • She liked ragging; but ragging — and nothing more — these rough-and-tumbles remained 1995, Anthony Powell, A Dance to the Music of Time: First Movement, page 23:
   • As for rough-and-tumbles, the Quaker saw no hope of suppressing them. Few nights passed without such fights […] 2000, Mark Michael Smith, The Old South, page 105:
2. An environment of rough activity.
3. A person who characteristically engages in such activity.
   • This will appear a very tedious process to some of our rough-and-tumbles. 1854, William Chorlton, “The Culture of Celery”, in Luther Tucker, editor, The Horticulturist, and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste, page 166:

Forms

Translations (4)

ru сва́лка (rough activity; fights) · ru дра́ка (rough activity; fights) · ru ку́ча мала́ (rough activity; fights) · ru потасо́вка (rough activity; fights)

rough-and-tumble en · VERB

Etymology

From rough + and + tumble.

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To engage in rough-and-tumble activity.
   • But, for all that, our British experience of electioneering "rough-and-tumbling'" has long blunted the edge of our moral anger. 1853, Thomas De Quincey, Historical and Critical Essays, page 4:
   • Although examples could be found throughout the South, rough-and-tumbling was best suited to the backwoods. 1995, David Kenneth Wiggins, Sport in America: From Wicked Amusement to National Obsession, page 38:

Forms