"sleep rough" meaning in English

See sleep rough in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /ˌsliːp ˈɹʌf/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˌslip ˈɹʌf/ [General-American], /ˌsliːp ˈɹaf/ [General-Australian], [ˌslɪip ˈɹaf] [General-Australian] Audio: en-us-sleep rough.mp3 [General-American], En-au-sleep rough.ogg [Australia] Forms: sleeps rough [present, singular, third-person], sleeping rough [participle, present], slept rough [participle, past], slept rough [past]
Etymology: From sleep (verb) + rough (“in a rough manner, roughly”, adverb) (a reference to the uncomfortable situation of sleeping outdoors). Etymology templates: {{m|en|sleep|pos=verb}} sleep (verb), {{m|en|rough|pos=adverb|t=in a rough manner, roughly}} rough (“in a rough manner, roughly”, adverb) Head templates: {{en-verb|sleep<,,slept> rough}} sleep rough (third-person singular simple present sleeps rough, present participle sleeping rough, simple past and past participle slept rough)
  1. (idiomatic) Of a homeless person, to sleep outdoors, particularly as opposed to sleeping in a shelter or similar. Tags: idiomatic Categories (topical): Sleep Synonyms: lie rough, live rough [dated] Derived forms: rough sleeper, rough sleeping Translations (to sleep outdoors): 在街上睡覺 (Chinese Mandarin), 在街上睡觉 (zài jiēshang shuìjiào) (Chinese Mandarin), 流浪 (liúlàng) (Chinese Mandarin), nukkua taivasalla (Finnish), dormir à la belle étoile (French), durmir ao fresco (Galician), a szabadban / az utcán alszik (Hungarian), dormire all'addiaccio (Italian), spać na zewnątrz [imperfective] (Polish), dormir ao relento (Portuguese), спать на у́лице (spatʹ na úlice) (Russian), бомжева́ть (bomževátʹ) (english: to be homeless) [slang] (Russian), dormir al raso (Spanish), dormir al sereno (Spanish), sùnta (Yoruba)

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for sleep rough meaning in English (8.3kB)

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      "args": {
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        "2": "sleep",
        "pos": "verb"
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      "expansion": "sleep (verb)",
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      "args": {
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        "2": "rough",
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        "t": "in a rough manner, roughly"
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      "expansion": "rough (“in a rough manner, roughly”, adverb)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From sleep (verb) + rough (“in a rough manner, roughly”, adverb) (a reference to the uncomfortable situation of sleeping outdoors).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sleeps rough",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sleeping rough",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
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    {
      "form": "slept rough",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
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      "form": "slept rough",
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        "past"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
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          "kind": "other",
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      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "rough sleeper"
        },
        {
          "word": "rough sleeping"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1926, Rose Macaulay, A Casual Commentary, New York, N.Y.: Boni & Liveright, →OCLC, page 101",
          "text": "To be found sleeping in a public place is like being found without visible means of support—an indictable offence. Further, it is an indication of sin. \"He sleeps rough\"—therefore he is, doubtless, a thief, a drunkard, and a liar. There seems no reason why similar evidence should not be brought in a contrary sense to prove a man's worth.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1975, John Stewart, “Social Services”, in Of No Fixed Abode: Vagrancy and the Welfare State, Manchester: Manchester University Press, page 87",
          "text": "There is no evidence that anyone sleeps rough or drinks methanol in Oldham. [...] A voluntary organisation, the Bayswater Housing Association, has recently opened a couple of terraced houses for \"the homeless\".",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1982, Ken Follett, chapter 12, in The Man from St. Petersburg, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, published 2017, page 237",
          "text": "He was nervy and restless, sick of waiting and sick of hiding. He had slept rough again the last two nights, once in Hyde Park and once under the arches at Charing Cross.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998 February 3, Jonathan Sayeed, “Rough Sleepers”, in House of Commons Hansard (House of Commons of the United Kingdom), volume 305, London: Parliament of the United Kingdom, archived from the original on 2020-10-04",
          "text": "I am glad to hear what the Government are doing to reduce the number of people sleeping rough. It is a disgrace that anyone sleeps rough. An average of 3 per cent. of local housing owned by Labour local authorities is unoccupied, and in Islington it is 6 per cent. Why cannot it be used by people who are sleeping rough?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Lucian, “Demonax”, in [Charles] Desmond [Nuttall] Costa, transl., Selected Dialogues, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, page 152",
          "text": "I have written about Sostratus elsewhere, describing his bulk and enormous strength; how he lived in the open air on Parnassus, slept rough, ate what the mountain provided, and performed deeds which matched his name—killing robbers, and making roads through unbroken country and bridges over impassable places.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Sanchita Islam, “The Pink House”, in Sarah Broughton, editor, Gungi Blues, Brentwood, Essex: Chipmunkapublishing, page 47",
          "text": "Children ran and played by the roadside while others slept rough on the dirt. Hard skin on feet, blackened toes, tattered shorts, skin and bones.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 October 28, “The Observer view on the budget and the decade of austerity”, in The Observer, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-10-19",
          "text": "But there is perhaps no more visible manifestation of austerity than the disgraceful levels of homelessness we see in Britain today. Tents and mattresses lining the streets of towns and cities across the country, home to people forced to sleep rough, have become an increasingly common sight.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 December 22, Robyn Vinter, “‘That’s how we’ve got to live’: the black market in England’s shoplifting capital”, in The Guardian, →ISSN",
          "text": "They sleep rough nearby under duvets and sleeping bags, lying next to each other to keep warm.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
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      ],
      "id": "en-sleep_rough-en-verb-HtMqVviL",
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        [
          "homeless",
          "homeless"
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        [
          "sleep",
          "sleep#Verb"
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          "outdoors",
          "outdoors"
        ],
        [
          "shelter",
          "shelter"
        ]
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        "(idiomatic) Of a homeless person, to sleep outdoors, particularly as opposed to sleeping in a shelter or similar."
      ],
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        {
          "word": "lie rough"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "dated"
          ],
          "word": "live rough"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
          "word": "在街上睡覺"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "zài jiēshang shuìjiào",
          "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
          "word": "在街上睡觉"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "liúlàng",
          "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
          "word": "流浪"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
          "word": "nukkua taivasalla"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
          "word": "dormir à la belle étoile"
        },
        {
          "code": "gl",
          "lang": "Galician",
          "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
          "word": "durmir ao fresco"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
          "word": "a szabadban / az utcán alszik"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
          "word": "dormire all'addiaccio"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "spać na zewnątrz"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
          "word": "dormir ao relento"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "spatʹ na úlice",
          "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
          "word": "спать на у́лице"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "english": "to be homeless",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "bomževátʹ",
          "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
          "tags": [
            "slang"
          ],
          "word": "бомжева́ть"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
          "word": "dormir al raso"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
          "word": "dormir al sereno"
        },
        {
          "code": "yo",
          "lang": "Yoruba",
          "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
          "word": "sùnta"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌsliːp ˈɹʌf/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌslip ˈɹʌf/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌsliːp ˈɹaf/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[ˌslɪip ˈɹaf]",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian"
      ]
    },
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      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/En-us-sleep_rough.mp3",
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      "text": "Audio (GA)"
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/En-au-sleep_rough.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "sleep rough"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "rough sleeper"
    },
    {
      "word": "rough sleeping"
    }
  ],
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        "pos": "verb"
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      "args": {
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        "2": "rough",
        "pos": "adverb",
        "t": "in a rough manner, roughly"
      },
      "expansion": "rough (“in a rough manner, roughly”, adverb)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From sleep (verb) + rough (“in a rough manner, roughly”, adverb) (a reference to the uncomfortable situation of sleeping outdoors).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sleeps rough",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sleeping rough",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "slept rough",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "slept rough",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
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  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sleep<,,slept> rough"
      },
      "expansion": "sleep rough (third-person singular simple present sleeps rough, present participle sleeping rough, simple past and past participle slept rough)",
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    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
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        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations",
        "en:Sleep"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1926, Rose Macaulay, A Casual Commentary, New York, N.Y.: Boni & Liveright, →OCLC, page 101",
          "text": "To be found sleeping in a public place is like being found without visible means of support—an indictable offence. Further, it is an indication of sin. \"He sleeps rough\"—therefore he is, doubtless, a thief, a drunkard, and a liar. There seems no reason why similar evidence should not be brought in a contrary sense to prove a man's worth.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1975, John Stewart, “Social Services”, in Of No Fixed Abode: Vagrancy and the Welfare State, Manchester: Manchester University Press, page 87",
          "text": "There is no evidence that anyone sleeps rough or drinks methanol in Oldham. [...] A voluntary organisation, the Bayswater Housing Association, has recently opened a couple of terraced houses for \"the homeless\".",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1982, Ken Follett, chapter 12, in The Man from St. Petersburg, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, published 2017, page 237",
          "text": "He was nervy and restless, sick of waiting and sick of hiding. He had slept rough again the last two nights, once in Hyde Park and once under the arches at Charing Cross.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998 February 3, Jonathan Sayeed, “Rough Sleepers”, in House of Commons Hansard (House of Commons of the United Kingdom), volume 305, London: Parliament of the United Kingdom, archived from the original on 2020-10-04",
          "text": "I am glad to hear what the Government are doing to reduce the number of people sleeping rough. It is a disgrace that anyone sleeps rough. An average of 3 per cent. of local housing owned by Labour local authorities is unoccupied, and in Islington it is 6 per cent. Why cannot it be used by people who are sleeping rough?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Lucian, “Demonax”, in [Charles] Desmond [Nuttall] Costa, transl., Selected Dialogues, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, page 152",
          "text": "I have written about Sostratus elsewhere, describing his bulk and enormous strength; how he lived in the open air on Parnassus, slept rough, ate what the mountain provided, and performed deeds which matched his name—killing robbers, and making roads through unbroken country and bridges over impassable places.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Sanchita Islam, “The Pink House”, in Sarah Broughton, editor, Gungi Blues, Brentwood, Essex: Chipmunkapublishing, page 47",
          "text": "Children ran and played by the roadside while others slept rough on the dirt. Hard skin on feet, blackened toes, tattered shorts, skin and bones.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 October 28, “The Observer view on the budget and the decade of austerity”, in The Observer, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-10-19",
          "text": "But there is perhaps no more visible manifestation of austerity than the disgraceful levels of homelessness we see in Britain today. Tents and mattresses lining the streets of towns and cities across the country, home to people forced to sleep rough, have become an increasingly common sight.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 December 22, Robyn Vinter, “‘That’s how we’ve got to live’: the black market in England’s shoplifting capital”, in The Guardian, →ISSN",
          "text": "They sleep rough nearby under duvets and sleeping bags, lying next to each other to keep warm.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of a homeless person, to sleep outdoors, particularly as opposed to sleeping in a shelter or similar."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "homeless",
          "homeless"
        ],
        [
          "sleep",
          "sleep#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "outdoors",
          "outdoors"
        ],
        [
          "shelter",
          "shelter"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Of a homeless person, to sleep outdoors, particularly as opposed to sleeping in a shelter or similar."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "lie rough"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "dated"
          ],
          "word": "live rough"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌsliːp ˈɹʌf/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌslip ˈɹʌf/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌsliːp ˈɹaf/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[ˌslɪip ˈɹaf]",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-sleep rough.mp3",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/En-us-sleep_rough.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/2a/En-us-sleep_rough.mp3/En-us-sleep_rough.mp3.ogg",
      "tags": [
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      "text": "Audio (GA)"
    },
    {
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/En-au-sleep_rough.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
      "word": "在街上睡覺"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "zài jiēshang shuìjiào",
      "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
      "word": "在街上睡觉"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "liúlàng",
      "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
      "word": "流浪"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
      "word": "nukkua taivasalla"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
      "word": "dormir à la belle étoile"
    },
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
      "word": "durmir ao fresco"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
      "word": "a szabadban / az utcán alszik"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
      "word": "dormire all'addiaccio"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "spać na zewnątrz"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
      "word": "dormir ao relento"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "spatʹ na úlice",
      "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
      "word": "спать на у́лице"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "english": "to be homeless",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "bomževátʹ",
      "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ],
      "word": "бомжева́ть"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
      "word": "dormir al raso"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
      "word": "dormir al sereno"
    },
    {
      "code": "yo",
      "lang": "Yoruba",
      "sense": "to sleep outdoors",
      "word": "sùnta"
    }
  ],
  "word": "sleep rough"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-05 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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