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 is something of a rogues' gallery of developers that used to work for the biggest video game publishers in the industry.

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]

a ˌrogues’ ˈgallery

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

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).

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

See also:

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.

'A rogues' gallery of the dishonest' LABOUR MP LAUNCHES STINGING FACEBOOK ATTACK ON TORY CABINET

I'm now in the rogues' gallery but I don't feel any guilt GEORGE EDWARDSNESSIE PHOTO HOAXER

It's Mock Ness

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

Victorian rogues on display in city's bar; Jail turned pub puts its history on show

The images are featured in the latest rogues' gallery released by police.

Wanted for High Street fracas; HELP COPS CATCH THIS LOT CAUGHT ON CAMERA

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.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

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.

Museum row

Adding to the rogues' gallery of 'Things they'd wish they'd never said' is Sky News presenter Julie Etchingham.

AGENDA: ON A LIGHTER NOTE

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).

An echo chamber of his own: Bernie Goldberg's new niche is a little too comfortable

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.

Taking the Vic

Anthrax, a scourge once confined to farmers and wool handlers, has become a member of the rogues' gallery of biological weapons.

Anthrax vaccine gets makeover

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.

T is for nature. (What's New?)

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.

Jean Nouvel Storms Pompidou. (View)

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.

Chris Burden. (First Break)

Before the footy, viewers can catch A Question Of Sport on BBC1, something of a rogues' gallery this week.

SPORT ON TV: pick of the day

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.

FIRST AMENDMENT BEDFELLOWS