A Dictionary of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words / Used at the Present Day in the Streets of London; the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; the Houses of Parliament; the Dens of St. Giles; and the Palaces of St. James.

by John Camden Hotten

ROOTER, anything good or of a prime quality; “that is a ROOTER,” i.e., a first-rate one of the sort.

ROSE, an orange.

ROSE, “under the ROSE” (frequently used in its Latin form, Sub rosâ), i.e., under the obligation of silence and secresy, of which the rose was anciently an emblem, perhaps, as Sir Thomas Browne remarks, from the closeness with which its petals are enfolded in the bud. The Rose of Venus was given, says the classic legend, to Harpocrates, the God of Silence, by Cupid, as a bribe not to “peach” about the Goddess’ amours. It was commonly sculptured on the ceilings of banquetting rooms, as a sign that what was said in free conversation there was not afterwards to be divulged and about 1526 was placed over the Roman confessionals as an emblem of secrecy. The White Rose was also an emblem of the Pretender, whose health, as king, his secret adherents used to drink “under the ROSE.”

ROT, nonsense, anything bad, disagreeable, or useless.

ROT GUT, bad small beer,—in America, cheap whisky.

ROUGH, bad; “ROUGH fish,” bad or stinking fish.

ROUGH IT, to put up with chance entertainment, to take pot luck, and what accommodation “turns up,” without sighing for better.

“Roughing it in the Bush” is the title of an interesting work on Backwoods life.

ROUGHS, coarse, or vulgar men.

ROULEAU, a packet of sovereigns.—Gaming.