rough adv.
badly, unpleasantly.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 43/1: She loudly complained of the treatment her friend had received. This ‘jolly,’ from her especially, went down rather rough [...] and she was on the point of being shown out. | |
| Over the Top 117: Fritz was strafeing us pretty rough, just like he’s doing now. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Enormous Room (1928) 153: Put the bracelets on an ordinary man, tell him he’s a bad egg, treat him rough, shove him into the jug or its equivalent [...] and he will become one of three animals – a rabbit, that is to say timid; a mole, that is to say stupid; or a hyena. | |
| Observer 3 Oct. 27: He’s kicked up rough about the Sensation exhibition. | |
| et al. DAUL 180/2: Rough. [...] 2. (To go rough) Bad; fraught with danger; unsuited to criminal aims; unsatisfactory. |
In phrases
see separate entry.
(orig. US) to be tough or ruthless, to not act fairly.
| Thicker ’n Thieves 164: [R]acketeers, whether they are police officers or gangsters, play rough when their aims are thwarted. | |
 | in Bonner trans. Le Jargon et Jobelin 175: Poor suckers who / [...] never shout for help / but stand rooted to the spot, afraid / of guys who play it rough. | |
| On the Pad 268: [T]here’s Narducci [...] fucking dead, shot. [...] Most likely it had to do with Narducci holding money out on somebody who played rough. |