rugged

[ronbutters at AOL.COM]

Thanks to Paul for doing this research.

A separate entry for "rugged weather" still seems like overkill to me. Anyone could figure out the meaning of "rugged weather" from the other definition in the same way that one could figure out "rugged toilet training" or "rugged oral exam". But I bow to the professional opinion of AMERICAN HERITAGE--if this isn't something they put in to see if other dictionary makers plagiarized their triviality.

If they took this out, they would have room for "snood"!

Sent from my iPad

On Feb 6, 2011, at 2:08 AM, Paul Frank <paulfrank at POST.HARVARD.EDU> wrote:

> On Sat, Feb 5, 2011 at 4:31 PM,  <ronbutters at aol.com> wrote:
>> the authors put the word in quote marks. to me, this indicates that they view it as unusual--a nonce usage that is slightly figurative. So why would the OED specifically mention weather? Unless it is an established usage, it does not belong in a dictionary.
>
> Google Books gives 2,670 for "rugged weather."
>
> Webster's New World College Dictionary (2010) has this under "rugged":
>
> stormy; tempestuous: rugged weather
>
>
> The Encarta English dictionary says this for "rugged":
>
> 8. stormy: affected by violent and dangerous storms
>
> The American Heritage Dictionary says:
>
> 6. tempestuous; stormy: rugged weather.
>
>
> Sounds pretty established to me.
>
> Paul
>
> Paul Frank
> Translator
> Chinese, German, French, Italian > English
> Espace de l'Europe 16
> Neuchâtel, Switzerland
> mobile +41 79 957 5318
> paulfrank at bfs.admin.ch
> paulfrank at post.harvard.edu
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org