1. to shape or form roughly without finishing or refining
Usage: often used in woodworking or stonework
2. to give preliminary or crude form to something
Usage: figurative use

Examples

• The carpenter will roughhew the beam before doing the detailed work.
• They roughhewed the stone blocks at the quarry.
• The sculptor roughhewed the marble into a basic human form.
• He roughhewed his ideas into a preliminary proposal.
• The woodworker roughhewed the log with an axe.
• She roughhewed the outline of her novel over the weekend.