Meanings
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1
noun
A scoundrel, rascal or unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable person.
And meet time it was, when yon usher, vinegar-faced rogue that he is, began to inquire what popish trangam you were wearing […].
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2
noun
A mischievous scamp.
Ah, you sweet little rogue, you!
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3
noun
Malware that deceitfully presents itself as antispyware.
An entry in the Microsoft Malware Protection Center's Threat Research & Response Blog shows that rogue AV, also known as scareware, is ruling the malware roost, as 6 top of the 10 malicious programs removed by the MSRT (Malicious Software Removal Tool) in the US in October were 'rogues'.
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4
noun
An aggressive animal separate from the herd, especially an elephant.
If he is a rogue, and there's any truth to territoriality at all, we got a good chance of spotting him between Cape Scott and South Beach.
Thesaurus
Etymology
Uncertain. From either: * Earlier English roger (“a begging vagabond who pretends to be a poor scholar from Oxford or Cambridge”), possibly from Latin rogō (“to ask”). * Middle French rogue (“arrogant, haughty”), from Old Northern French rogre (“aggressive”), from Old Norse hrokr (“excess, exuberance”), for which see Icelandic hroki (“arrogance”), though OED does not document this. * Celtic; see Breton rog (“haughty”).