FromMiddle Englishrousen, fromAnglo-Normanreuser,ruser, originally used in English of hawks shaking the feathers of the body, fromLatinrecūsō, by loss of the medial 'c.'Doublet ofrecuse.
Figurative meaning“to stir up, provoke to activity” is from 1580s; that of“awaken” is first recorded 1590s.
rouse (pluralrouses)
- Anarousal.
- (military, British and Canada) Thesounding of abugle in the morning afterreveille, tosignal that soldiers are torise frombed, oftenthe rouse.
rouse (third-person singular simple presentrouses,present participlerousing,simple past and past participleroused)
- (transitive) Towake (someone) fromsleep, or fromapathy.
- Synonyms:bring round,roust,wake up;see alsoThesaurus:awaken
1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, inRailway Magazine, page53:John Hedley was Locomotive Foreman at Beattock. He was in bed, but theyroused him, and he gave orders for one of his pilot engines to go up to the summit, get Mitchell's train, and take it to Carlisle.
1979,Bernard Malamud, “Eight”, inDubin's Lives[1], New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, page284:Dubin slept through the ringing alarm, aware of Kitty trying torouse him and then letting him sleep.
- (intransitive) To beawoken fromsleep, or fromapathy.
- Synonyms:arise,get up,wake up;see alsoThesaurus:wake
c.1606 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act III, scene ii]:Good things of day begin to droop and drowse;
Night’s black agents to their preys dorouse.
1687,Francis Atterbury,An Answer to Some Considerations on the Spirit of Martin Luther[2], Oxford, pages41–42:As for the heat, with which he treated his other adversaries, ’twas sometimes strain’d a little too far, but in the general was extremely well fitted by the Providence of God torowse up a people, the most phlegmatic of any in Christendome.
1713,Alexander Pope,Ode for Musick[3], London: Bernard Lintott, stanza 2, p. 3:At Musick,Melancholy lifts her Head;
DullMorpheusrowzes from his Bed;
- Tocause,stir up,excite (a feeling, thought, etc.).
- Synonyms:galvanise,stoke;see alsoThesaurus:thrill
torouse the faculties, passions, or emotions
1719, [Daniel Defoe],The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […],→OCLC,page127:[…] their first Step in Dangers, after the common Efforts are over, was always to despair, lie down under it, and die, withoutrousing their Thoughts up to proper Remedies for Escape.
1848,Anne Brontë, chapter 27, inThe Tenant of Wildfell Hall, London: John Murray, published1900:‘You may think it all very fine, Mr. Huntingdon, to amuse yourself withrousing my jealousy; but take care you don’trouse my hate instead. And when you have once extinguished my love, you will find it no easy matter to kindle it again.’
1961,V. S. Naipaul,A House for Mr Biswas[4], Penguin, published1992, Part Two, Chapter 5, p. 494:[…] he had grown to look upon houses as things that concerned other people, like churches, butchers’ stalls, cricket matches and football matches. They had ceased torouse ambition or misery. He had lost the vision of the house.
- Toprovoke (someone) toaction oranger.
- Synonyms:inflame,set off;see alsoThesaurus:incite,Thesaurus:enrage
1667,John Milton, “Book II”, inParadise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […];[a]nd by Robert Boulter […];[a]nd Matthias Walker, […],→OCLC; republished asParadise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […],1873,→OCLC, lines284-287:He scarce had finisht, when such murmur filld
Th’ Assembly, as when hollow Rocks retain
The sound of blustring winds, which all night long
Hadrous’d the Sea[…]
1817 (date written), [Jane Austen],Persuasion; published inNorthanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume(please specify |volume=III or IV), London:John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818),→OCLC:“A surgeon!” said Anne.
He caught the word; it seemed torouse him at once, and saying only—“True, true, a surgeon this instant,” was darting away, when Anne eagerly suggested—
“Captain Benwick, would not it be better for Captain Benwick?[…]”
1932,William Faulkner, chapter 12, inLight in August,[New York, N.Y.]:Harrison Smith & Robert Haas,→OCLC; republished London:Chatto & Windus,1933,→OCLC,page254:He tried to argue with her. But it was like trying to argue with a tree: she did not evenrouse herself to deny, she just listened quietly and then talked again in that level, cold tone as if he had never spoken.
- To cause to start from acovert or lurking place.
torouse a deer or other animal of the chase
1590,Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XI”, inThe Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] forWilliam Ponsonbie,→OCLC,page350:Deformed creatures, in straunge difference,
Some hauing heads like Harts, some like to Snakes,
Some like wilde Bores laterouzd out of the brakes,
1611 April (first recorded performance),William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act III, scene iii]:Hark, the game isroused!
1713,[Alexander] Pope,Windsor-Forest. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […],→OCLC,page 7:The Youth rush eager to the Sylvan War;
Swarm o’er the Lawns, the Forest Walks surround,
Rowze the fleet Hart, and chear the opening Hound.
- (nautical) Topull by mainstrength; tohaul.
1832, [Frederick Marryat], chapter V, inNewton Forster; or, The Merchant Service. […], volume(please specify |volume=I to III), London: James Cochrane and Co., […],→OCLC,page71:Tom, you and the boyrouse the cable up—get about ten fathoms on deck, and bend it.
- (obsolete) To raise; to make erect.
1590,Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XI”, inThe Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] forWilliam Ponsonbie,→OCLC,page157:And ouer, all with brasen scales was armd,
Like plated cote of steele, so couched neare,
That nought mote perce, ne might his corse bee harmd
With dint of swerd, nor push of pointed speare,
Which as an Eagle, seeing pray appeare,
His aery plumes dothrouze, full rudely dight,
So shaked he, that horror was to heare,
For as the clashing of an Armor bright,
Such noyse hisrouzed scales did send vnto the knight.
1599 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act IV, scene iii]:He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
Androuse him at the name of Crispian.
- (slang, when followed by "on") Totell off; tocriticise.
Heroused on her for being late yet again.
First attested in the late 16th Century. Fromcarouse, fromrebracketing of the phrase “drink carouse” as “drink arouse”.
rouse (pluralrouses)
- An officialceremony over drinks.
c.1599–1602 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act I, scene ii]:No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day
But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell,
And the King’srouse the heaven shall bruit again,
Respeaking earthly thunder.
- Acarousal; a festival; a drinking frolic.
1842,Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “The Vision of Sin”, inPoems[6], volume 2, London: Edward Moxon, page219:Fill the cup, and fill the can:
Have arouse before the morn:
Every minute dies a man,
Every minute one is born.
- Wine or otherliquor considered an inducement tomirth or drunkenness; a full glass; abumper.
- A. Brachet (1868)An etymological dictionary of the French language
rouse
- inflection ofrousar:
- first/third-personsingularpresentsubjunctive
- third-personsingularimperative
