rouse

Meanings

Noun

• An arousal.
• The sounding of a bugle in the morning after reveille, to signal that soldiers are to rise from bed, often the rouse.
• An official ceremony over drinks.
• A carousal; a festival; a drinking frolic.
• Wine or other liquor considered an inducement to mirth or drunkenness; a full glass; a bumper.

Verb

• To wake (someone) or be awoken from sleep, or from apathy.
• To cause, stir up, excite (a feeling, thought, etc.).
• To provoke (someone) to action or anger.
• To cause to start from a covert or lurking place.
• To pull by main strength; to haul.
• To raise; to make erect.
• To tell off; to criticise.

Origin

• From Middle English rousen, from Anglo-Norman reuser, ruser, originally used in English of hawks shaking the feathers of the body, from Latin recusare, by loss of the medial 'c.' recuse.
• Figurative meaning "to stir up, provoke to activity" is from 1580s; that of "awaken" is first recorded 1590s.
• From carouse, from rebracketing of the phrase “drink carouse” as “drink a rouse”.