Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also rough work) physical violence; also attrib.

1903		A.H. Lewis Boss 72: These Red Jackets to make the decent front, th’ Tin Whistles to fall back on for the rough work.
1903		Western News (Stevensville, MT) 1 July 4/2: Be fair. Cut out the rough stuff.
1907		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 9: Say, nix on this rough stuff.
1911		Seattle Star (WA) 16 Aug. 1/6: Strong Arm Jake [...] McLaurin says he will sue ‘King’ Jake for his ‘rough stuff’ methods.
1916		J. Lait ‘The Gangster’s Elegy’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 243: I better not let ’em start no rough stuff in here.
1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 176: I could see from the fellow’s eye that he was meditating some of his customary rough stuff.
1928		Rudolph Fisher Walls Of Jericho 47: Ain’t go’bn be no rough stuff in this neighborhood.
1933		‘Goat’ Laven Rough Stuff 107: Bottles wasn’t much good at rough stuff, but he was a damn good prowler and sneak thief.
1938		Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 26 Feb. 3/1: As the old-timer put it, the ‘stand-over’ rackets had been ‘organised.’ The ‘rough stuff,’ as far as possible, had been ruled out .
1938		Press (Canterbury) 2 Apr. 18: [B]eware of the ‘John Hops’ who stand no ‘rough stuff’.
1939		V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 168: The understanding that you don’t try any rough stuff.
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 250: Old Man Kippel didn’t go for rough stuff.
1958		R. Prather Scrambled Yeggs 6: No rough stuff, huh? What the hell do you call this bloody damned part in my hair?
1961		‘Frank Richards’ Billy Bunter at Butlins 192: Jimmy Jecks was more than ready to hand out the ‘rough stuff’.
1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 97: Next time it wouldn’t be only his finger that got broken, if he did try any rough stuff.
1977		K. Gilbert Living Black 237: They’re used to treating the tracs with the rough stuff and it rubs off on to the other prisoners and they get it rough.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 367: No rough stuff, please, caveman!
1996		P. Temple Bad Debts (2012) [ebook] Some people won’t co-operate. Rough stuff, murder maybe? Well, accidents happen.
2002		C. Stella Jimmy Bench-Press 43: Jimmy isn’t used to that sort of thing, the rough stuff.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 57: cut the rough/cut out the rough stuff Desist from doing something aggressive or unpleasant to others, often used as an imperative against such rough stuff. ANZ 1930s.
2012		A. McKinty ‘The Dutch Book’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] me dad was in the Bandidos. I’ve seen plenty of rough stuff.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 392: ‘Wasn’t so long ago you was BNP.’ ‘Henry... don’t be hurtful... I didn’t believe a word of it... I was only in it for the rough stuff... [...] maiming for maiming’s sake’.

2. severe criticism; intense teasing.

1908		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 21: Many of the boys are getting the rough stuff at home today on account of New Year’s pledges.
1918		Aussie (France) 9 Dec. 5/2: Reynolds’ amused smile grew broader. / ‘Cut out the rough stuff, Jack, this thing has gone past a joke; I’ve had a skinful of the whole affair.’.
1921		P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 101: The Portugee Kid gave the road-kid the ‘office’ to lay off the rough stuff.
1930		E. Pound letter 16 Jan. in Paige (1971) 226: I gather McA. handed him some rough stuff on first meetin, but he don’t bear no mangy.

3. (Aus./US) a disrespectful, reckless, indecent or disorderly person; disrespect, recklessness, indecency.

1912		Mansfield (OH) News 7 Dec. 10(?)/3: Only pie-trimmers and hash-slingers would ever condescend to come across with such rough stuff as ‘Aw, nix on that,’ ‘Cheese it’ and ‘Shut your trap.’.
1918		Aussie (France) V June 8/2: ’Ave I won a blanky ‘duckboard’? / Digger, cut the rough stuff out, / For I ain’t no bloomin’ ’ero; / I’m a bloke they calls a scout.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: rough stuff. An undisciplined, reckless, indecent, disorderly person or thing.
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 43: Cut out that rough stuff before these screws kill you. [...] Nobody with any sense fights prison keepers.
1938		H.M. Anderson Strip Tease 15: ‘The rough stuff was what made burly tick’.
2001		(con. late 19C) C. Jeffords Shady Ladies of the Old West 🌐 The most successful landladies maintained, at least on the ground floor, a strict air of respectability and charming home life; they insisted on corsets downstairs and forbade ‘rough stuff.’.

4. (orig. US) sado-masochistic sex.

1978		Maledicta II:1+2 (Summer/Winter) 115: I shall limit myself to rhyming slang. I do not mean claptrap, sure cure, and hot shot (though sexual meanings attach to AC/DC, rough stuff and so on).
1998		C. Fleming High Concept 100: Michelle was an unwed mother with [...] a reputation for rough stuff.

5. (drugs) marijuana that contains a lot of unsmokeable debris [stuff n. (5c)].

1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
1979		J. Homer Jargon.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 18: Rough stuff — Marijuana.