rot
Noun · VerbOpen English WordNet
Verb (2)rotted, rotting, rots, roted, roting
- break down“The bodies decomposed in the heat”Synonyms: decomposemoldermoulderMore general decayMore specific biodegrade, hang
- become physically weaker“Political prisoners are wasting away in many prisons all over the world”Synonyms: wasteMore general devolve, deteriorateMore specific necrose, gangrene
Noun (3)rots
- a state of decay usually accompanied by an offensive odorSynonyms: putrefactionType of decayKinds putrescence, putridness
- (biology) the process of decay caused by bacterial or fungal actionSynonyms: decompositionrottingputrefactionbreakdownType of decay
- unacceptable behavior (especially ludicrously false statements)Synonyms: bunkbunkumbuncombeguffhogwashType of drivel, garbageKinds bullshit, bull
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: OE. rotien, AS. rotian; akin to D. rotten, Prov. G. rotten, OHG. rozz…n, G. rösten to steep flax, Icel. rotna to rot, Sw. ruttna, Dan. raadne, Icel. rottin rotten. √117. Cf. Ret, Rotten.
1. To undergo a process common to organic substances by which they lose the cohesion of their parts and pass through certain chemical changes, giving off usually in some stages of the process more or less offensive odors; to become decomposed by a natural process; to putrefy; to decay.
Fixed like a plant on his peculiar spot, To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot.— Alexander Pope
2. Figuratively: To perish slowly; to decay; to die; to become corrupt.
Four of the sufferers were left to rot in irons.— Thomas Babington Macaulay
Rot, poor bachelor, in your club.— William M. Thackeray
Synonyms: To putrefy; corrupt; decay; spoil.
1. To make putrid; to cause to be wholly or partially decomposed by natural processes; as, to rot vegetable fiber.
2. To expose, as flax, to a process of maceration, etc., for the purpose of separating the fiber; to ret.
1. Process of rotting; decay; putrefaction.
2. Botany A disease or decay in fruits, leaves, or wood, supposed to be caused by minute fungi. See Bitter rot, Black rot, etc., below.
3. A fatal distemper which attacks sheep and sometimes other animals. It is due to the presence of a parasitic worm in the liver or gall bladder. See 1st Fluke, 2.
His cattle must of rot and murrain die.— John Milton
Bitter rot Botany, a disease of apples, caused by the fungus Glaeosporium fructigenum. F. Lamson. Scribner — Black rot Botany, a disease of grapevines, attacking the leaves and fruit, caused by the fungus Laestadia Bidwellii. F. Lamson. Scribner — Dry rot Botany See under Dry. — Grinder's rot Medicine See under Grinder. — Potato rot. Botany See under Potato. — White rot Botany, a disease of grapes, first appearing in whitish pustules on the fruit, caused by the fungus Coniothyrium diplodiella. F. Lamson. Scribner
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54