Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a goose.

c.1566		Harman Caveat for Common Cursetours in Viles & Furnivall (1907) 83: a Roger or tyb of the buttery a Goose.
1592		Groundworke of Conny-catching n.p.: [as cit. c.1566].
1608		Dekker Lanthorne and Candle-Light Ch. 1: The Canters Dictionary Roger, or Tib of the Buttry, a Goose.
1622		Beaumont & Fletcher Beggar’s Bush V i: Margery praters, Rogers, and Tibs o’ th’ Buttery.
1637		Dekker ‘Canters Dict.’ Eng. Villainies (8th edn).
1688		R. Holme Academy of Armory Ch. iii item 68c: Canting Terms used by Beggars, Vagabonds, Cheaters, Cripples and Bedlams. [...] Roger [...] a Goose.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Roger a Goose.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

2. a country simpleton.

c.1642		T. Killigrew Parson’s Wedding (1664) II iii: I’ll put my ranting Roger in a cage but I’ll tame him; he loves already, which is an excellent Ring in a fool’s nose.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew.
1724		A. Ramsay Tea-table Misc. (1733) IV 370: Young Roger came tapping At Dolly’s window [...] His courage he cool’d He found himself fool’d.
1748		Spy on Mother Midnight II 39: [The preacher] told the Farmer that he ought not to find Fault with his Wife [...] since the Impediment, if natural, might be on his Side. Roger nettled at thiis Suggestion.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Hodge, an abbreviation of Roger: a general name for a country booby.
1834		Tipperary Free Press 23 Aug. 3/1: A weary, prosy sermon through; while Roger’s loudly heard to snore.

3. (also rogero) the penis, an erect penis.

1653		Urquhart (trans.) Gargantua and Pantagruel (1927) I Bk I 44: And some of the other women would give these names, my Roger, my cockatoo, my nimble-wimble, [etc.].
1672–95		‘Roger and Mary’ in Williams Dict. Sexual Lang. III 1165: Then Roger [...] at the main breach made a sally / And ply’d on his thrust like a Turk; / But Roger Alas was confounded. The breach was so deep at that place, That poor Roger quickly was drowned.
1681		Scudamore Homer Alamode Pt 2 53: ’cause I was so slight a Dogger, Methought they took it [i.e. a dildo] for true Roger.
c.1682		‘Male and Female Husband’ in Chappell Roxburghe Ballads (1874) II 256: The good women having searcht did find each Member good: And that Rogero ‘bove the Cleft, most firm and stoutly stood.’.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Roger, [...] a Man’s Yard.
a.1700		‘Ladies Complaint’ Lansdowne 852.280: Let us pray ... That he would put his Roger into the Right Hole.
1718		Byrd of Virginia Diary 8 Oct. (1958) 182: [She] could provoke me to do nothing because my roger would not stand with all she could do.
1720		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy VI 201: Here’s a Health to the Queen, let’s Bumpers take in hand, / And may Prince G—’s Roger grow stiff again and stand.
1730		‘Gee Ho, Dobin’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) II 203: Ah, brave Roger, drive on Roger, ah brave Roger, hi ho.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1763		J. Wilkes Essay on Woman title page: Essay on Woman; By Pego Borewell, Esq; with notes By Rogerus Cunaeus.
a.1770		T. Chatterton ‘The Virgin’s Choice’ in Revenge and Additional Songs (1795) 44: Roger is very stout and strong [...] Soft Giles is brisk and small. / Who shall I chuse, who shall I shun?
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue .
1786		Nunnery Amusements 5: And how he feels Sir Roger fiercely rise?
a.1800		‘We’re a’ Gaun Southie, O’ in Burns Merry Muses of Caledonia (1965) 182: Bonie lassie, braw lassie, ‘Will ye hae a sodger?’ Then she took up her duddie sark, An’ he shot in his roger.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1837–8		‘A Wife’s Appetite’ in Cuckold’s Nest 43: The morn they were wed the maid said to her bunny, / To-night you shall make poor old Roger feel funny.
1841		‘Fanny’s Mill’ in Gentleman’s Spicey Songster 13: ’Twas Roger long she wished to find, / For Roger knew well how to grind / Her mill.
1879		‘Origin of Copulation’ in Pearl 5 Nov. 27: Gee up Roger, / Wag up, Roger, / Roger’s a thing that all women admire!
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
c.1935		‘Betty Boop in “Flesh”’ [comic strip] in B. Adelman Tijuana Bibles (1997) 30: Did you ever lay a bimbo who would eat an apple [...] while you were pounding that old roger home.
1966		Trimble 5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases.
1970		in P.R. Runkel Law Unto Themselves 51: She had a hard time gettin’ Roger out because he was so stiff.
1978		L. Kramer Faggots 321: Peter, piccolo, piston, poker, pole, pork, prong, pud, roger.
2016		N. Cummins Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] VITAL AUSSIE VERNACULAR Penis: 1. beef bayonet 2. a major part of his tackle allowance 3. sword 4. pyjama python 5. rod 6. middle leg 7. rodger.

4. an act of sexual intercourse.

1793		Bacchanalian Mag. 66: I turn’d and observ’d the old Codger / [...] / I whisper’d to Nancy / To tickle his fancy, / And ask him if he’d like a ro — r.
1838		‘I Dreamt Last Night As I Lay On My Bed’ in Rambler’s Flash Songster 36: I dreamt last night as I lay on my bed, / That I saw an old lecherous codger, / Who scarcely hear himself fart at my head, / And he said that he wanted a roger.
1841		‘Joe Buggins’ in Gentleman’s Spicey Songster 37: Says Joe, you damn’d ungrateful coger, for coming her [sic] my wife to grind, / You might have let me have the first roger, and then, of course I vouldn’t mind.
1888–94		‘Walter’ My Secret Life (1966) II 278: This healthy, well-fed woman of twenty-three who wanted a nightly roger.
1961		(con. WW2) R. Poole London E1 (2012) 237: ‘She’s on a rodger wi’ the lodger’.

5. a police officer, usu. male.

1923

M. Garahan Stiffs 177: I know as much about policemen as I do about bugs. You take a dago roger and hit him and he’ll run like hell. So will all the other police in the town.

6. an erection.

1973

(con. 1940s–60s) Hogbotel & ffuckes ‘The Pub with no Beer’ in Snatches and Lays 75: Billy the blacksmith, the first time in his life / Goes home with a roger to his darling wife.