rough and ready
(a little/bit) rough and ready
1. Unpolished, imperfect, or unkempt, but generally able or ready for use or action. This video is a bit rough and ready, but it's pretty close to what we want the finished product to look like. This old truck's a little rough and ready, but it's still the most reliable vehicle I've owned.
2. Somewhat lacking in refinement, sophistication, manners, etc. The workers on the oil rig are a little bit rough and ready, but they're good guys, every single one of them. Yeah, the diner is a little rough and ready, but I think that's what gives it its charm.
See also: and, little, ready, rough
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
rough and ready
Unrefined or makeshift but available for use or action, as in The agenda is somewhat rough and ready, but it covers the main issues. [First half of 1800s]
See also: and, ready, rough
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
rough and ready
COMMON
1. If something is rough and ready, it is simple and basic, or it is not exact, because it has been made or done quickly. We stayed the night at the town's only hostel, a rough-and-ready bar with rooms attached. I can only provide rough and ready sales predictions.
2. If someone is rough and ready, they are not polite or very educated. At first, the rough and ready sailors didn't know what to make of the young priest. He's a bit rough and ready but he knows what he's doing.
See also: and, ready, rough
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
rough and ready
1 rough or crude but effective. 2 (of a person or place) unsophisticated or unrefined.See also: and, ready, rough
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
ˌrough and ˈready
1 simple and prepared quickly but good enough for a particular situation: I can give you a rough-and-ready estimate of the cost of the work now and a more detailed estimate later.
2 (of a person) not very polite, educated or fashionable: His approach was rather rough and ready, but he was very popular with his customers.
See also: and, ready, rough
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
rough and ready
mod. vigorous and eager. After a good night’s sleep, I feel rough and ready—I could take on a bear. My friend is the rough and ready type. I’d rather sit and think about things.
See also: and, ready, rough
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
rough and ready
Crude but vigorous and ready for action. This Americanism dates from the early nineteenth century. In print it first appeared in a collection of Diaries and Letters (1810) by F. J. Jackson: “A more rough and ready state of things than we had before been accustomed to.” In the 1840s it became the nickname for General Zachary Taylor, “Old Rough and Ready,” hero of the Mexican War (1846–48) and later the twelfth president of the United States. By then the term was used in England as well; it appears in Robert Browning’s “Bishop Blougram’s Apology” (1855): “You, for example, clever to a fault, The rough and ready man who write apace, Read somewhat seldomer, think perhaps even less.”
See also: and, ready, rough
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- (a little/bit) rough and ready
- rough-and-ready
- (a little/bit) rough around the edges
- (a little/bit) rough around the edge
- be ready to roll
- get ready
- raring
- be raring to go
- ready when you are
- make ready to (do something)