Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Roughshod \Rough"shod\, a.
   Shod with shoes armed with points or calks; as, a roughshod
   horse.

   {To ride roughshod}, to pursue a course regardless of the
      pain or distress it may cause others.

Source : WordNet®

roughshod
     adj 1: (of a horse) having horseshoes with projecting nails to
            prevent slipping
     2: (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict
        pain or suffering; "a barbarous crime"; "brutal beatings";
        "cruel tortures"; "Stalin's roughshod treatment of the
        kulaks"; "a savage slap"; "vicious kicks" [syn: {barbarous},
         {brutal}, {cruel}, {fell}, {savage}, {vicious}]
     3: unjustly domineering; "incensed at the government's
        heavy-handed economic economic policies"; "a manager who
        rode roughshod over all opposition" [syn: {heavy-handed}]