rugged

From Middle English rugged, roggyd, ruggyd, from Old Occitan rugat (“creased, wrinkled”), from Old Occitan ruga (“crease, wrinkle”).

• rŭ-gĭd, IPA^(key): /ˈɹʌɡɪd/

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rugged (comparative ruggeder, superlative ruggedest)

1. Broken into sharp or irregular points; uneven; not smooth; rough.
   • 1870, Mark Twain, Roughing It, Chapter LXV

     By and by, after a rugged climb, we halted on the summit of a hill which commanded a far-reaching view.

2. Not neat or regular; irregular, uneven.
   • 2011, Ronke Luke-Boone, African Fabrics: Sewing Contemporary Fashion with Ethic Flair

     Commercially produced yarn, such as rayon, produces a cloth with a smoother, shinier look than hand-spun cotton, but the uneven, rugged look of hand-spun cotton can be quite appealing.

3. Rough with bristles or hair; shaggy.
   • 1897, Kate Chopin, A Morning Walk

     His hair was light and rather thin; his face strong and rugged from exposure, and his eyes narrow and observant.

4. (of a person) Strong, sturdy, well-built.
   • 2010, Arthur Queen Jr., Young Man: Ageless Fatherly Wisdom to Hold

     Many women and men delude themselves into thinking that only the hardest and most rugged man is attractive and to many it may be the case.

5. (of land) Rocky and bare of plantlife.
   • 2013, Vicky Baker in The Guardian, Riding with the cowboys on a Mexico ranch

     Hidden within 30,000 acres of rugged private land, the ranch is cocooned by peaks and canyons in all directions.

   • 1971, United States Forest Service, Search for solitude: our wilderness heritage

     Much of the area can be seen only by hikers who travel without trails to the higher reaches of this rugged mountain range.

6. (of temper, character, or people) Harsh; austere; hard; crabbed
7. Stormy; turbulent; tempestuous; rude.
8. (of sound, style etc.) Harsh; grating; rough to the ear
9. (of looks, appearance etc.) Sour; surly; frowning; wrinkled
   • 1908, Rafael Sabatini, The Abduction

     "Ah!" sighed the unimaginative Granby, and his honest, rugged face grew clouded. Pepper puffed in silence for a moment or two; then spoke.

10. (of behaviour) Violent; rude; boisterous
11. (of health, physique etc.) Vigorous; robust; hardy
    • 1909, Jack London, Martin Eden

      "Her gaze rested for a moment on the muscular neck, heavy corded, almost bull-like, bronzed by the sun, spilling over with rugged health and strength..."

12. (computing, of a computer) Designed to reliably operate in harsh usage environments and conditions.
    • 2011, Nick Fletcher, Psion drops 2% after supply chain issues push it into loss

      Psion, which supplies a range of rugged hand held computers, has lost nearly 2% after announcing a plunge into the red.

• rugged in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• rugged at OneLook Dictionary Search

rug +‎ -ed

• rŭgd, IPA^(key): /ɹʌɡd/

rugged (not comparable)

1. Having a rug or rugs.
2. Covered with a rug.

rugged

1. simple past tense and past participle of rug

• Dugger, Gudger, grudge, gurged