rotten

▪ I. rotten, a.
    (ˈrɒt(ə)n)
    Forms: 3 rotin, 4–6 roten, 4–5 rotun, 5 rotyn, 5–6 roton, 6 rotne; 4, 6 rottyn, 6 rottin(e, rotton; 5– rotten.
    [a. ON. rotinn (Icel. rotinn, Fær. rotin, Norw. roten; MSw. rotin, rutin, Sw. rutten, Da. raaden, † rodden), which has the form of a strong pa. pple. belonging to the ablaut-series reut-, raut-, rut-: cf. rot v. and the forms cited under ret v.²]
    I. 1. Of animal matter: In a state of decomposition or putrefaction; decomposed, putrid.

a 1225 Ancr. R. 84 Roted [T. rotin] stinkinde fleshs. 13.. Cursor M. 22907 (Gött), Dede þar gun his carion li, And þat was rotin al to noght. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 73 (Kölbing), When ich am dede & roten in clay. 1388 Wyclif Numb. v. 21 The Lord make thin hipe to wexe rotun, and thi wombe swelle, and be brokun. c 1450 Myrr. our Ladye 320 The bodyes of al men and women.., thoughe they be roten or brente. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xix. 439, I am sory that ye be not deed rotyn wythin the pryson. 1533 Gau Richt Vay 81 The same body quhilk vesz grawit & rottine. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 666 The sweet War-man is dead and rotten. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iv. xliv. 348 To give life again to a dead man, and renew his inanimate and rotten Carkasse. 1692 Christ Exalted 79 Which I am sure have a worse Savour than the rottenest Egg in the Town. 1701 Stanhope St. Bernard's Medit. St. Augustine, etc. viii. iii. 365 Its boasted Charms shall sink into a rotten Carcass. 1893 W. R. Gowers Man. Dis. Nerv. Syst. (ed. 2) II. 437 The sclerotic after death was rotten and discoloured.

    2. a. Of vegetable or other substances: In a state of thorough decay.

a 1340 Hampole Psalter i. 3 Auerous men..þat gifes froit, bot when it is rotyn & out of tyme. c 1374 Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 314 Sheo that hem trustithe shall hem fynde als faste As in a tempeste is þe Roton maste. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) vii. 25 Þai [sc. apples] will be roten within viii. dayes. 1495 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 259 Sayles olde & Rotyn, j;..Cokke Botes to the seid ship olde & Rotyn, j. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 111 Those shyppes beinge nowe rotten for age. 1583 Hollyband Campo di Fior 131, I have but a few nuttes, and those are broken and rotten. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. iii. v. (1651) 341 They start at the name of death, as a horse at a rotten post. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 62 In the rotten Trunks of hollow Trees. 1760 Brown Compl. Turner ii. 69 Rotten sawdust, or any other rotten wood. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 323 The true pedigree of property, and not rotten parchments and silly substitutions. 1813 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1838) X. 378 There is one pontoon quite rotten. 1870 F. R. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 99 The interior was..full of rotten sittings of all sorts and sizes.

fig. c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's Prol. 21 We olde men..Til we be roten, kan we nat be rype. 1546– [see ripe a. 1 c]. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Dec. 118, I..follies nowe have gathered as too ripe, And cast hem out as rotten and unsoote. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 126 You'l be rotten ere you bee halfe ripe.

    b. In fig. contexts.

1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 54 We that be in religyon sholde..purge the rotten bowes by confessyon. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 186 O cankerit carionnis, and o ȝe rottin stakis. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. iv. Wks. 1856 I. 46 O rotten props of the craz'd multitude. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 36 What rotten Tenements are our Bodies? 1781 Cowper Progr. Err. 288 Sin's rotten trunk, concealing its defects.

    c. absol. The decayed part.

1629 Chapman Juv. Poems (Globe) 259 To pick out, like the rotten out of apples.., a poor instance or two. 1875 Tennyson Q. Mary ii. ii, My Lord, cut out the rotten from your apple.

    3. Of air, water, etc.: Putrid, corrupted, tainted, foul. † rotten fever, putrid or septic fever.

c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 16435 A manqualm cam..Þorow roten eyr, þorow wykkede wyndes. c 1440 Gesta Rom. lviii. 374 (Add. MS.), Be-fore hem all he caste oute the rotyn watyr. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Putor, a rotten sauour. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 185 Stinkand pulis of euerie rottin synk. 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 238 At which time Queen Anne his wife fell sicke of a rotten feuer. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. i. 21 The rotten diseases of the South. 1671 Salmon Syn. Med. iii. lxxxv. 737 The putrid or rotten Feaver. 1802 Med. Jrnl. VIII. 358 The room was on the ground floor, seemed very damp, and had a rotten smell.

    4. a. Of ground, soil, etc.: Extremely soft, yielding, or friable by reason of decay.

c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. i. 64 A roten swerd and welnygh blak,..And tough to glewe ayeyn [etc.]. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour D viij b, So they tooke their waye thorough the medowe, where were old cloddes all roten. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Cariosa terra, rotten earth quickly fallen to duste. 1607 J. Norden Surv. Dial. iii. 113 They are taken in bogges, and such rotten grounds as cattle cannot feed upon. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 304 Sow Beans and Clover in a rotten Soil. 1806 Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) 87 The ice [was] very dangerous, being rotten. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. viii. 60 Scattering with my axe..the rotten ice of the sharper crests. 1892 P. H. Emerson Son of Fens 118 That's rotten (boggy) that side, aint it?

    b. Of rocks: Partly decomposed.

1805 Forsyth Beauties Scot. III. 112 Besides the hard sort, much is to be found of what is commonly called rotten whin. 1839 Murchison Silur. Syst. i. xxvii. 341 The subsoil..consists of rotten shale with scarcely the vestige of a solid bed of stone. 1852 Johnston Elem. Chem. & Geol. viii. 119 The decayed traps, under the local names of Rotten rock, Marl, etc. 1868 Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869) 69 The sand marls of the rotten limestone group of this State.

    c. orig. N. Amer. Of ice: weak; melting, disintegrating. (Cf. rot v. 1 e.)

c 1665 P. E. Radisson Voyages (1885) 133 We cutt the ice w{supt}{suph} hattchetts & we found places where [it] was rotten, so we hazarded ourselves often to sinke downe to our necks. 1746 T. Walker Diary 20 Mar. (1889) 9 Went over y⊇ River upon y⊇ ice. It grew very rotten. 1795 E. P. Simcoe Diary 7 Feb. (1911) 266 At Jacques Cartier the ice was so rotten I was obliged to go a league higher to cross the river with safety. 1849 J. E. Alexander L'Acadie II. ii. 31 Thence we proceeded to Montreal, which we reached after four days and three nights of most unpleasant travel, and even dangerous, on account of exposure and the rotten ice. 1916 N. Duncan Billy Topsail xvi. 120 [The ice] had yielded somewhat—it must have gone rotten—in the weather of that day. 1935 Monthly Weather Rev. (Washington) LXII. 133/1 The boatman, fisherman, and lots of others..swear that at this season [sc. spring] surface ice becomes rotten, or honeycombed, and sinks. 1966 T. Armstrong et al. Illustr. Gloss. Snow & Ice Fig. 7 (caption) Rotten ice. The puddles on the surface have mostly joined together and in places have melted right through the ice.

    5. a. Of sheep: Affected with the rot.

c 1460 Towneley Myst. xii. 221 Both befe, and moton Of an ewe that was roton. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §55 To knowe a rotten shepe. Ibid., Take the shepe,..and yf the skynne..be pale-coloured, and watrye, thanne is he rotten. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 80 They dyed yet dayly as it were rotton sheepe. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. (1729) I. 50 Many.., for want of being accustomed to such Hardships, died like rotten Sheep. 1704 Dict. Rust. s.v. Sheep, If they are rotten, the Eyes are pale and dark. 1810 Parkinson Live Stock I. 422 The nineteen [sheep] all died rotten. 1844 C. W. Johnson in H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 45 Mr. Rusher..purchased, for a mere trifle, 20 sheep, decidedly rotten.

transf. 1704 Dict. Rust. s.v. Rot, If he [the horse] be rotten, his Liver and Lights are so putrified, that they are not to be recovered.

    b. Characterized by the occurrence or prevalence of sheep-rot.

1799 Agric. Surv. Lincs. 329 In rotten years, the sheep that feed on the salt marsh..sell very high. 1810 Parkinson Live Stock I. 425 The farm..was deemed so rotten, that the oldest inhabitants advised my father..not to keep sheep.

    6. Damp, wet, rainy.

1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. i. iii, Expectation Of rotten weather, and vnseason'd howers. 1828 P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 347 A rotten pinching white frost. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 300 A raw rotten fog after frost. 1881 Folk-Lore Rec. IV. 131 A Saturday's rainbow is sure to be followed by a week of rotten (rainy) weather.

    II. 7. a. Morally, socially, or politically corrupt.

c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 7 For þei ben divydid fro þe comoun maner of lyvynge bi hir rotun rytys. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame iii. 1778 Ye maisty Swyne, ye ydel wrechhes, Ful of roten slowe techches. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VII (1809) 429 So perdurable..that they can never be clerely extirpate..out of their rotten hartes. 1555 in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1824) III. App. xl. 111 And root up the rotten race of the ungodly. 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. iv. 90 Something is rotten in the State of Denmarke. 1661 J. Davies Civil Wars 372 Purging his army by casting off such officers as he conceived rotten. 1718 Free-thinker No. 14. 95 He is Rotten at the Core, and his Soul is dishonest. 1797 Godwin Enquirer i. xii. 103 This rotten morality will not abide..examination. 1851 Gallenga Italy 61 A scheme of nationality having for its head a rotten papacy. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 148 The whole rotten sham which calls itself a prosperous colony.

    † b. Of language: Morally offensive; obscene.

c 1620 Moryson Itin. iv. (1903) 417 Blasphemous oathes and rotten talke are among their nationall vices. 1641 Hinde J. Bruen li. 165 To be pure in lips and tongue, never suffering any rotten speech to fall from him.

    c. rotten borough: see borough 3 c.
    8. a. Weak, unsound.

1607 Shakes. Cor. i. x. 23 Nor sleepe, nor sanctuary,..shall lift vp Their rotten Priuiledge, and Custome 'gainst My hate to Martius. 1658 Osborn K. Jas. Wks. (1673) 501 Upon a hope (though a rotten one) of a future preferment. 1737 Whiston Josephus, Hist. i. xxvi. §2 This fellow perceived the rotten parts of the family, and what quarrels the brothers had.

    b. slang. (a) In a very poor state, of a very bad quality, quite worthless; ‘beastly’; also as a mere expletive (quot. 1892) and in weakened sense in rotten luck, rotten shame, etc. (b) quasi-adv. as intensifying word.

1880 ‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abroad xxiii. 226 I'm most rotten certain 'bout that. 1881 Stevenson Let. 5 Dec., You may imagine how rotten I have been feeling, and feel now. 1892 Henley & Stevenson Deacon Brodie iv. i, Just like you. Forgot the rotten centrebit. 1895 Westm. Gaz. 20 April 7/2 Outside the competition they were, comparatively speaking, a rotten team. 1911 G. B. Shaw Blanco Posnet 405 You that always talk as if He never did anything without asking your rotten leave first. 1914 ― Fanny's First Play i. 177, I was copped in the Dock Road myself: rotten luck, wasn't it? 1922 Joyce Ulysses 748 It was rotten cold too that winter. 1930 [see electric blanket s.v. electric a. 2 b]. 1943 [see due n. 4 c]. 1952 E. O'Neill Moon for Misbegotten ii. 107 You rotten bastard! 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. ix. 161 Juvenile repugnance continues to be expressed by the old standbys..rotten, rotten shame, rotten swiz. 1964 Daily Mail 14 Dec. 1/3 The other girls sent me up rotten when they heard about my date. 1976 M. Machlin Pipeline xli. 446, I would not say that they are your friendliest people. And sometimes they are downright rotten. 1977 Listener 12 May 626/2 Mr Wood is not only brave enough to send himself up rotten, but also to make a hilarious series out of the whole literary game. 1980 Jewish Chron. 26 Dec. (Lit. Suppl.) p. vii/2, I was the only girl among 50 reporters and of course I was spoilt rotten.

    c. Printing. (See quot.)

1888 Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 115 Rotten, term applied to unsound impression in printing.

    d. to knock rotten, to kill or stun. Austral. slang.

1919 W. H. Downing Digger Dial. 31 Knocked rotten, killed or stunned. 1941 Coast to Coast 179 ‘He pulled it down on top of him,’ continued Jo... ‘It knocked him rotten.’ 1945 Baker Austral. Lang. vi. 120 The development of an extensive vocabulary of fighting terms{ddd}knock rotten.

    e. Austral. slang. Drunk. Also in phr. to get rotten.

1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 61 Rotten, to get, to become exceedingly drunk. 1953 T. A. G. Hungerford Riverslake 135 Monday to-morrow—blasted work again. God, could I get rotten! 1971 J. Famechon Fammo 145 A reporter from one of the Sydney papers—he was the last to leave, rotten.

    † 9. fig. More than ripe. Obs. rare.

1640 Shirley Constant Maid iii. ii, My part is rotten in my head, doubt not. ― Humorous Courtier iii. i, Pray let me have All these directions in manuscript. I'll not see her Till they be rotten in my head.

    10. attrib. and Comb. a. Parasynthetic, as rotten-boned, rotten-chested, rotten-fleshed, rotten-fustianed, rotten-livered, rotten-planked, rotten-throated, rotten-timbered adjs. Also rotten-hearted.

1912 D. H. Lawrence Let. 3 July (1962) I. 134 My cursed, rotten-boned, pappy hearted countrymen, why was I sent to them. 1927 R. Graves Poems (1914–26) 210 As counterbalance in my mind To being rotten-boned and blind. 1969 L. Michaels Going Places 63, I..coughed again, a rasping, rotten-chested hack.

1908 Hardy Dynasts III. iv. vi. 417 We kings? Kings of the under⁓ground country, then, by this time, if we hadn't been too rotten-fleshed to follow the drum.

1853 R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. T. (1893) 220 All the scowling, rotten-fustianed, baggy-pocketed scamps of the country.

1929 R. Graves Poems 20 Lame, rotten-livered, this and that canaille.

1855 Browning Master Hugues xxix, At the foot of your rotten-planked, rat-riddled stairs.

1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 55 You rotten-throated slaues, Engarlanded with coney-catching knaues.

1818 Keats Endym. ii. 18 Many old rotten-timber'd boats there be.

    b. With adjs., as rotten-dry, rotten-red, rotten-rich, rotten-ripe, rotten-sweet; also rotten-roasted, rotten-woven.

1596 Nashe Saffron Walden Wks. (Grosart) III. 93 By this time imagin him rotten ripe for the Vniuersitie. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 365 That they be not brittle, and rather ripe drie, than sere or rotten-dry. 1623 Middleton More Dissemblers iv. i, [Ducks] all rotten roasted and stuffed with onions. 1840 Browning Sordello ii. 731 Fruits like the fig⁓tree's, rathe-ripe, rotten-rich. 1861 L. L. Noble Icebergs 319 Stumps of all..colors, from rotten-red and brown down to coal-black. 1868 G. M. Hopkins Jrnls. & Papers (1959) 184 In the train I was noticing that strange rotten-woven cloud. 1869 Lowell Glance behind Curtain vi, The time is ripe, and rotten-ripe, for change. 1947 M. Morris in B. James Austral. Short Stories (1963) 348 She stood over the bin inhaling the queer rotten-sweet smell of the blossoms.

    c. rotten-egg vb., to pelt with rotten eggs.

1884 B'ham Weekly Post 25 Oct. 3/7 He was rotten-egged, stoned, and otherwise greaty abused. 1936 W. Greene Death in Deep South 69 You are rotten-egged out of a jerkwater town—rotten egged!—by a handful of hoodlums.

▪ II. ˈrotten, v. rare.
    [f. prec. Cf. Icel. and Norw. rotna, Sw. ruttna, Da. raadne.]
    trans. To rot.

1611 Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. (1614) 2/2 How the Romans found it, held it, and left it, as times ripened and rottened their successe.

Oxford English Dictionary