rogues' gallery

rogues' gallery

1. old-fashioned A collection of photographs of known criminals and suspects kept and used by police to identify people taken into custody. The constable recognized the shady character from the rogues' gallery back at the station.
2. By extension, any collection of unsavory, unpleasant, or undesirable people or things. Often used humorously or ironically. The film is a veritable rogues' gallery of bad cinema—bad direction, bad acting, bad cinematography, bad everything. The new studio calls is something of a rogues' gallery of developers that used to work for the biggest video game publishers in the industry.
See also: gallery
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

rogues' gallery

A police collection of pictures of criminals and suspects kept for identification purposes. For example, The detective went through the entire rogues' gallery but couldn't find a match with the suspect . [Mid-1800s]
See also: gallery
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

a ˌrogues’ ˈgallery

(informal, humorous) a collection of photographs of criminals: Have you seen these photos of the new teachers? What a rogues’ gallery!
See also: gallery
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

rogues gallery

Originally, a portrayal of a group of disreputable individuals, such as wanted criminals, but later used humorously for any group photograph. The term, also spelled rogue’s gallery, originated in the mid-1800s for a collection of criminals’ portraits. A century later it was used more lightly, as in “Bob Dylan, Arthur Lee, Keith Richard, Bob Marley—the rogue’s gallery of rebel input that forms the hard stuff at the centre of rock” (Kathy McKnight and John Tobler, Bob Marley: The Roots of Reggae, 1977).
See also: gallery, rogue
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer

rogues gallery

Collection of “head shot” photographs. A rogues gallery is a compilation of “mug shot” photos of actual and suspected criminals maintained by police departments for purposes of identification. The practice began in the mid-19th century with the development of photography. By extension, any collection of head-and-shoulder photos, such as college fraternity composites and academic yearbooks, is jokingly referred to as rogues galleries.
See also: gallery, rogue
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price
See also:
  • a rogues' gallery
  • rogues gallery
  • fashion
  • Do you know the Bishop of Norwich?
  • an old fogey/fogy
  • anon
  • ye olde
  • (butter and) egg money
  • a stuffed shirt
References in periodicals archive
It is a rogues' gallery of the dishonest, the untrustworthy, the incompetent, and the intolerant, inflicted on us by less than 0.5% of the population.
I'm now in the rogues' gallery but I don't feel any guilt GEORGE EDWARDSNESSIE PHOTO HOAXER
NE'ER DO WELLS From left, an 18-year-old housebreaker, a 26-year-old who stole leather, and a 56-year-old and 13-year-old who stole clothes MUGSHOTS Graham Thompson, reservations team leader at The Ware Rooms, with the bar's rogues' gallery
The images are featured in the latest rogues' gallery released by police.
As Scott tries to get closer to Ramona, he finds he must face an increasingly vicious rogues' gallery from her past, including infamous skateboarders to vegan rock stars and fearsomely identical twins.
Thanks for running a photo of the jacket of Rogues' Gallery, my history of the men and women behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with your recent article ["Met Expectations," by David Wallace-Wells, Washington Monthly, March/April 2010] on Calvin Tomkins's forty-year-old book on the institution.
Adding to the rogues' gallery of 'Things they'd wish they'd never said' is Sky News presenter Julie Etchingham.
Aside from vulgar entertainers and corporate vultures, his rogues' gallery is populated almost exclusively by left-of-center public figures, pundits, and media personalities: Michael Moore, Ted Kennedy, Jesse Jackson, Howard Dean, George Soros, Bill Moyers, Gloria Steinem, Dan Rather, and other usual suspects (plus some who are so obscure or so passe as to be unusual).
Now Vic is stepping away from his 'light entertainer' guise once more as he appears in Rogues' Gallery, a documentary series for The Discovery Channel, about famous historical rogues and villains.
Anthrax, a scourge once confined to farmers and wool handlers, has become a member of the rogues' gallery of biological weapons.
In keeping with themes of patriotism rampant in America, a big hit should be the regal bald eagle in fierce profile with the slogan "The Real Survivor." For those with a bizarre turn of mind, a huge mosquito puts a fresh twist on the milk industry's ad campaign by inquiring "got blood?" Those plagued with backyard and garden pests will enjoy the rogues' gallery of the "Ten Most Wanted Mosquitoes for Bloodsucking Crimes" and "The Ten Most Wanted [squirrels] for Birdseed Crimes." A sly dig is apparent with the scarecrow shirt that comes with the caption "The Perfect Man.
Video explorations of completed buildings are on display here and the office personnel - which now includes language teachers - is represented by a rogues' gallery of mug-shots stretching all along one wall.
Titled "Proof That the Seventies Have Finally Begun," it placed the artist among an oddly appropriate rogues' gallery of zeitgeist-shapers that included Neal E.
Before the footy, viewers can catch A Question Of Sport on BBC1, something of a rogues' gallery this week.
But we agree with the above rogues' gallery of the right that the First Amendment requires that magazines, like the rest of the press, be immune from such Congressionally compelled turnovers.