A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

rot away • rot off
rot away —decay slowly and completely: The soil in the for-
est is rich with dead leaves and branches that have been rotting
away for centuries.
rot off —fall off because of decay: The ground is covered
with stiff, dry branches which have rotted off as the trees die.
rotten apple • rotten egg
rotten apple —(coll.) a single bad person in a group (also:
bad apple): Today, the company, a shadow of its former self,
is the rotten apple of the highly competitive supermarket sec-
tor.
rotten egg —(coll.) a bad or despised individual (also: bad
egg ): But even if he was a rotten egg, what could he actually
do? Does he stonewall any important cases before they reach
the Supreme Court?
rough customer • tough customer
rough customer —a disagreeable person who may turn vio-
lent: Lord Carmarthen, besides being an amateur sailor, was,
like his guest, a most immoderate brandy drinker and alto-
gether a rough customer.
tough customer —an unyielding person who is difficult to
deal with: I started designing our garden, but Dave is a tough
customer and rejected all my plans.
See also: slippery customer / smooth customer.
rough it out • rough it up
rough it out—withstand to the end difficult conditions or
adverse circumstances without flinching: We have no other
course for it but to rough it out as well as we can.
Note:
The expression is not equivalent in meaning to the phrase
rough it
—(also: rough it in the bush) live for a short period of
time without the usual comforts and conveniences: The explorers
had to rough it when they got into the jungle.
rough it up —(Sport) intensify the tempo and competitive-
ness of a game: He has great agility on the ice and is not scared
to rough it up in front of the net to gain position.