From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishroguerogue1 /rəʊɡ $ roʊɡ/ noun [countable] 1 BAD PERSONa man or boy who behaves badly, but who you like in spite of this – often used humorously What’s the old rogue done now, I wonder? a lovable rogue2 British English old-fashionedBAD PERSON a man who is dishonest and has a bad character
Examples from the Corpus
rogue• I uphold the law of this realm - and the law states quite clearly that vagrants are rogues and vagabonds.• And to get them, the president needs rogues.• A new breed of rogue had been born.• After this, but before the car or rogue had been traced, the rogue sold the car to an innocent purchaser.• The rogue and her octogenarian gang from the countryside have all departed.roguerogue2 adjective [only before noun] 1 PROBLEMnot behaving in the usual or accepted way and often causing trouble rogue moneylenders Officials are concerned about rogue regimes that may have nuclear weapons. What happens when a spy goes rogue?2 HBAa rogue wild animal lives apart from the main group and is often dangerousExamples from the Corpus
rogue• When I first met him, he was a female rogue character.• Despite saturating the area with herbicide, he found rogue oilseed rape plants thriving in ditches and around telephone poles.• Some are rogue states with which we may some day clash.• For one thing, intelligence does have some impact on foreign policy, for example, towards rogue states.• Rogue trader Nick Leeson lost millions of dollars for his company.Origin rogue1 (1500-1600) Perhaps from roger “beggar pretending to be a poor student” ((1500-1600)), perhaps from Latin rogare “to ask” 