rouse
verbEtymology From Middle English rousen, from Anglo-Norman reuser, ruser, originally used in English of hawks shaking the feathers of the body, from Latin recūsō, by loss of the medial 'c.' Doublet of recuse. Figurative meaning “to stir up, provoke to activity” is from 1580s; that of “awaken” is first recorded 1590s.
8 senses
- 1To wake (someone) from sleep, or from apathy.
- 2To be awoken from sleep, or from apathy.
- 3To cause, stir up, excite (a feeling, thought, etc.).
- 4To provoke (someone) to action or anger.
- 5To cause to start from a covert or lurking place.
- 6To pull by main strength; to haul.
- 7To raise; to make erect.
- 8To tell off; to criticise.
1
To wake (someone) from sleep, or from apathy.
- John Hedley was Locomotive Foreman at Beattock. He was in bed, but they roused 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.1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in Railway Magazine, page 53:
- Dubin slept through the ringing alarm, aware of Kitty trying to rouse him and then letting him sleep.1979, Bernard Malamud, “Eight”, in Dubin's Lives, New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, page 284:
2
To be awoken from sleep, or from apathy.
- Good things of day begin to droop and drowse; Night’s black agents to their preys do rouse.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
- 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 to rowse up a people, the most phlegmatic of any in Christendome.1687, Francis Atterbury, An Answer to Some Considerations on the Spirit of Martin Luther, Oxford, pages 41–42:
1 more example
- At Musick, Melancholy lifts her Head; Dull Morpheus rowzes from his Bed;1713, Alexander Pope, Ode for Musick, London: Bernard Lintott, stanza 2, p. 3:
3
To cause, stir up, excite (a feeling, thought, etc.).
- to rouse the faculties, passions, or emotions
- […] their first Step in Dangers, after the common Efforts are over, was always to despair, lie down under it, and die, without rousing their Thoughts up to proper Remedies for Escape.1719, [Daniel Defoe], The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 127:
2 more examples
- ‘You may think it all very fine, Mr. Huntingdon, to amuse yourself with rousing my jealousy; but take care you don’t rouse my hate instead. And when you have once extinguished my love, you will find it no easy matter to kindle it again.’1848, Anne Brontë, chapter 27, in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, London: John Murray, published 1900:
- […] 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 to rouse ambition or misery. He had lost the vision of the house.1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Penguin, published 1992, Part Two, Chapter 5, p. 494:
4
To provoke (someone) to action or anger.
- He scarce had finisht, when such murmur filld Th’ Assembly, as when hollow Rocks retain The sound of blustring winds, which all night long Had rous’d the Sea […]1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 284-287:
- “A surgeon!” said Anne. He caught the word; it seemed to rouse 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? […]”1817 (date written), [Jane Austen], Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=III or IV), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC:
2 more examples
- He tried to argue with her. But it was like trying to argue with a tree: she did not even rouse herself to deny, she just listened quietly and then talked again in that level, cold tone as if he had never spoken.1932, William Faulkner, chapter 12, in Light in August, [New York, N.Y.]: Harrison Smith & Robert Haas, →OCLC; republished London: Chatto & Windus, 1933, →OCLC, page 254:
- The words they stopped me from uttering may have been very paltry indeed, hardly words to rouse the rabble.1980, J. M. Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians, Penguin, published 1982, page 108:
5
To cause to start from a covert or lurking place.
- to rouse a deer or other animal of the chase
- Deformed creatures, in straunge difference, Some hauing heads like Harts, some like to Snakes, Some like wilde Bores late rouzd out of the brakes,1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 350:
2 more examples
- Hark, the game is roused!1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
- 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.1713, [Alexander] Pope, Windsor-Forest. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 7:
- Tom, you and the boy rouse the cable up—get about ten fathoms on deck, and bend it.1832, [Frederick Marryat], chapter V, in Newton Forster; or, The Merchant Service. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: James Cochrane and Co., […], →OCLC, page 71:
7
Obsolete To raise; to make erect.
- 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 doth rouze, full rudely dight, So shaked he, that horror was to heare, For as the clashing of an Armor bright, Such noyse his rouzed scales did send vnto the knight.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 157:
- He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named, And rouse him at the name of Crispian.1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
- Related terms
- rabble-rouse