rogue

 
Pronunciation: /rəʊg/

noun

  • 1a dishonest or unprincipled man: you are a rogue and an embezzler
  • a person whose behaviour one disapproves of but who is nonetheless likeable or attractive: Cenzo, you old rogue!
  • 2 [usually as modifier] an elephant or other large wild animal living apart from the herd and having savage or destructive tendencies: a rogue elephant
  • a person or thing that behaves in an aberrant or unpredictable way, typically with damaging or dangerous effects: he hacked into data and ran rogue programs a rogue cop who took the law into his own hands
  • a seedling or plant deviating from the standard variety.

verb

[with object]
  • remove inferior or defective plants or seedlings from (a crop): the sowing has to be rogued to remove aberrant seedlings

Origin:

mid 16th century (denoting an idle vagrant): probably from Latin rogare 'beg, ask', and related to obsolete slang roger 'vagrant beggar' (many such cant terms were introduced towards the middle of the 16th century)