▪ I. rot, n.1
(rɒt)
Forms: 4–6 rote, 4–5 rott, 5–7 rotte, 5 root; 4– rot.
[App. of Scand. origin: cf. Icel., Fær., Norw. rot, Sw. dial. råt, obs. Da. rodt, rod, raad (16th c.), LG. röt, related to rot v., rotten a.]
1. The process of rotting, or the state of being rotten; decay, putrefaction; also, rotten or decayed matter.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 5921 For þe rotte þat þar-on fell..Ne was in hus na vessel fre. Ibid. 19001 In hell Ne suld noght crist be left to duell, Ne neuer o rote his flexs ha sight. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1079 Þer was rose reflayr where rote has ben euer. 1382 Wyclif Micah ii. 10 For the vnclennesse therof it shal be corrupt with the warst rott. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 437/1 Rot, or rotynge, corrupcio, putrefaccio. 1483 Cath. Angl. 312/1 A Rote, caria, caries, liuor. 1750 Phil. Trans. XLVI. 444 It was a hollow Bag, as he thought, filled with Rot and corruption. 1854 S. Dobell Balder i, Your rot Glimmers in corse-lights on the shuddering dark. |
| fig. 1538 Starkey England ii. ii. 194 Who ys so blynd that seth not..the grete infamy and rote that remeynyth in vs? 1581 Mulcaster Positions 159 marg., The main rot of the Romaine empire. 1601 Weever Mirr. Mart. A vij, Many headed Rumour, Vices preseruer, vertues festred rot. 1859 Whittier Preacher 65 From the death of the old the new proceeds, And the life of truth from the rot of creeds. |
2. a. A virulent disease affecting the liver of sheep which are fed on moist pasture-lands; inflammation of the liver caused by the fluke-worm, liver-rot. Usually with
the.
See also
foot-,
hunger-,
liver-,
pelt-,
water-,
winter-rot.
| c 1400 Rule St. Benet 1331–2 For thurgh a schep þat rote hase hent May many schep with rote be schent. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xii. 26 All my shepe ar gone,..The rott has theym slone. 1538 Starkey England i. iii. 98 When they [i.e. sheep] are closyd in ranke pasturys & butful ground, they are sone touchyd wyth the skabe and the rotte. 1546 Supplic. Poore Commons (E.E.T.S.) 85 When it hath pleased God to punish vs with the rot of our shepe. 1647 Trapp Comm. Rom. v. 12 As the rot over-runneth the whole flock. 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 179 His cattel must of Rot and Murren die. 1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 69 Sometimes the Rot among Cattel is rather a Relief than a Damage. 1766 Compl. Farmer s.v. Rabbit 6 H 4/2 Rabbits are subject to..the rot, which is caused by the giving them too large a quantity of greens. 1809 Med. Jrnl. XXI. 93 The rot in sheep often prevails to an alarming degree, in the up-lands that skirt these fens. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 15 It is by summer flooding, where it is practised, that the fatal disease of rot is introduced. 1864 T. S. Cobbold Entozoa 171 In the season of 1830–31, the estimated deaths of sheep from rot was between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000. |
b. A particular form, instance, or epidemic, of this disease.
| 1538 Starkey England i. iii. 98 Commynly they dye of skabe and rottys in grete nombur, wych cumyth..bycause they are nuryschyd in so fat pasture. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 68 Many private men in England have in one yeere lost more cattel by a rot, then the Pale lost by this spoyling of the rebels. 1668 More Div. Dial. ii. x. (1713) 116 Nor dare I adventure to propose to you the Murrain of Cattle or Rots of Sheep. 1763 Mills Pract. Husb. III. 416 A farmer who kept four hundred sheep tried this receipt in the last general rot (about five years ago). 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 535 The simple sheep licks up the autumnal dews hanging upon her pasture, which gives a rot to her flesh. 1864 J. Forster Sir J. Eliot I. 102 Was not the first rot or scab that came among English sheep brought by one out of Spain? |
| fig. 1667 Davenant & Dryden Tempest Epil. 4 Among the muses there's a general rot. 1765 H. Walpole Lett. (1892) IV. 432 There seems to be a rot among princes: the Emperor Don Philip and the Duke are dead. |
c. red rot: see
red a.
and n.1 19.
white rot, the plant
Hydrocotyle vulgaris, belonging to the order
Umbelliferæ; marsh pennywort, sheep-rot; also, rot-grass (
Pinguicula vulgaris).
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal 424 Water Pennywoort is called..in English Sheepes killing Pennygrasse, Pennyrot, and in the north countrie White rot. 1640 Parkinson Theat. Bot. 534 They call it [butterwort] White rot,..for the Country people doe thinke their sheepe will catch the rot, if for hunger they should eate thereof. 1806 J. Galpine Brit. Bot. 21 Hydrocotyle, White-Rot. 1886 Holland Cheshire Gloss. 389 White Rot, Hydrocotyle vulgaris. |
3. a. A putrescent or wasting disease in persons. Also
fig.| 1388 Wyclif Prov. xii. 4 Rot is in the boonys of that womman, that doith thingis worthi of confusioun. a 1585 Montgomerie Flyting 323 The painfull poplesie,..The rot, the roup, and the auld rest. a 1592 Greene Jas. IV, iv. iii, Go, and the rot consume thee! 1607 Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 64, I will not kisse thee, then the rot returnes To thine owne lippes againe. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 87 We most justly abhorre the Nose that is sunk into this figure by the Venerian rot. 1662 R. Mathew Unl. Alch. 69 Abusing himself in all blasphemies, riot and excess, in due time the Rot, or the Pox overtook them. 1836 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) XIV. 510/2 The disease called grinder's rot, an incurable consumption. 1898 [see grinder 9]. |
† b. In the imprecation
rot on or
rot upon.
Obs.| 1624 Heywood Captives ii. ii. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, Rott on that villeyne! no. 1638 Cowley Love's Riddle i, A rott upon you; you must still be humoured. Ibid. iv, Rot on your possibles. |
4. Decay in timber or other vegetable products, stone, etc. See also dry-rot.
| 1830 Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 217 The rock may with propriety be said to have the rot, for it crumbles to pieces in the hand. 1841 Emerson Man the Reformer Wks. (Bohn) II. 240 Every species of property is preyed on by its own enemies, as iron by rust, timber by rot. 1868 Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869) 214 Low, wet soils almost invariably produce rot in the berry. 1882 H. De Windt Equator 85 Enormous holes in the bamboo flooring occasioned by rot. |
5. slang. Nonsensical rubbish; trash, bosh. Also used of activities, objects, etc. Also as
int. Cf. tommy-rot s.v. Tommy 6.
| 1848 Shilleto in Whibley In Cap & Gown (1890) 228 Your Natural-rot, your Moral-bosh. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown vi, Let's stick to him and talk no more rot. 1879 M. E. Braddon Clov. Foot iv. 96, I thought he despised ballet-dancing. Yet this is the third time I have seen him looking on at this rot. 1880 Henley & Stevenson Deacon Brodie iv. 79 Portrait of George as a gay hironmonger... O rot! Hand it over, and keep yourself out of that there thundering moonlight. 1882 M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal III. i. 13 You are just the sort of woman to believe in that kind of rot. 1894 G. Moore Esther Waters xxxix. 302 All bloody rot; who says I'm drunk? 1905 H. James Golden Bowl vi. 74 He had not many things, none of the redundancy of ‘rot’ they had elsewhere seen. 1914 G. B. Shaw Fanny's First Play 158, I quite agree that harlequinades are rot. a 1953 E. O'Neill Long Day's Journey (1956) i. 35 It's damned rot! I'd like to see anyone influence Edmund more than he wants to be. 1977 C. McCullough Thorn Birds ii. 36 ‘What if it isn't the Eyetie girl?’.. ‘Rot!’ said Paddy scornfully. |
6. Cricket. A rapid break-down or fall of wickets during an innings. Also
transf.: a decline (in resources, standards, behaviour, etc.). Usu. in phrases
the rot set in,
to stop the rot.
| 1868 J. Lillywhite's Cricketers' Compan. 61 A terrible ‘rot’ set in at the commencement of their second ‘venture’. 1882 Australians in Eng. 71 After the fall of Leslie's wicket, however, a complete ‘rot’ set in. 1884 Lillywhite's Cricket Ann. 64 After this came the rot, and the total only reached 118. 1901 Westm. Gaz. 24 Apr. 2/3 It is to be hoped that something can be done (as cricketers would say) to ‘stop the rot’. 1912 P. F. Warner Eng. v. Austral. ix. 100 Ransford..had rendered great service to his side by helping to ‘stop the rot’. 1926 G. M. Trevelyan Hist. Eng. vi. ii. 642 By these all too drastic measures the rot of pauperism was stopped. 1930 J. B. Priestley Angel Pavement i. 38 He could not pretend to himself now that such pitiful economies as these could stop the rot. 1938 R. Warner Professor v. 113, I really don't know how the rot set in, but the process may have been something like this. 1951 C. P. Snow Masters xix. 157 We must take care that a rot doesn't set in. 1955 Times 6 June 3/1 The rot began when Appleyard came into the attack. 1958 Spectator 22 Aug. 251/1, I have a feeling that, recently, airlines have been allowing this precious asset to depreciate. The rot set in with the introduction of bus fares. 1969 Listener 17 July 68/1 The rot set in, I think, with the President's speech to the Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs in June. 1973 M. Woodhouse Blue Bone ii. 12, I went up to London..and that, as the saying goes, is where the rot set in. |
7. Comb., as
rot-disease,
rot epidemic,
rot-proof,
rot-proofed,
rot-stricken;
† rot-bean (see
quot.);
rot-grass, one or other of several plants supposed to cause rot in sheep (see
quots.);
rot-heap, a rubbish-heap;
rot-steep (see
quot. 1838);
rot-stone,
= rotten-stone.
| 1716 Petiveriana i. 180 Barbadoes *Rot-bean,..Jetaiba Barbad. lobis minoribus. |
| 1864 T. S. Cobbold Entozoa 173 The main facts relating to the origin..of the *rot-disease. |
| Ibid. 172 The *rot epidemic of 1824. |
| 1631 R. H. Arraignm. Whole Creature ix. 69 They are as *rot grasse to sheepe. 1794 Hutchinson Hist. Cumb. I. App. 39 Pinguicula vulgaris, Rot-grass, supposed highly injurious to sheep, on moist grounds. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 350 Melica cœrulea,..fly-bent or rot-grass. 1863 Prior Brit. Plants 192 Rot-grass, from its being supposed to bane sheep, a grass in the sense of herbage, Pinguicula vulgaris. |
| 1881 E. A. Ormerod Man. Injurious Ins. 43 Burning the infested old cabbage-stocks.., instead of throwing them into *rot-heaps. |
| 1870 Daily News 19 Aug. 2 Blocks of wood on end, with gravel pounded between, the whole made permanently waterproof and *rotproof. 1884 Health Exhib. Cat. 90/1 Rotproof Non-poisonous Wall Linings. |
| Ibid. 104/2 Hammock Awnings, comprising also *Rotproofed specimens. |
| 1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 396 The cloth is steeped in a weak alkaline ley to remove the weaver's dressing. This is technically called the *rot steep. 1874 W. Crookes Dyeing & Cal.-printing 45 The ‘rot steep’, so called because the flour or size with which the goods were impregnated was formerly allowed to ferment and putrefy. |
| 1819 Scott Leg. Montrose vi, The soldier, who was..burnishing his corslet with *rot-stone and shamois-leather. |
| 1897 Month June 638 One who..had allowed human beings to perish like *rot-stricken sheep. |
▪ II. † rot, n.2 Obs. [a. Du. rot neut., or G. rotte fem., a. OF. rotte, rote, route, rout n.1] A file (of soldiers).
Cf. rat n.5 Also
attrib.| 1635 W. Barriffe Mil. Discipl. cxx. (1643) 417 The other thirty two rots of Muskettiers belonging to the middle squadron. 1637 Monro Expedit., etc. ii. Abridgm. Exerc. 183 There must be nine Rots of Pikemen, which have the Right hand, and twelve Rots of Musketiers on the left hand. Ibid., Two are esteemed as Leaders, being a Corporall a Rot-master or Leader, and an under Rot-master. |
▪ III. † rot, a. Obs. [f. rot v. Cf. Du. rot, LG. röt, rot.] Rotten; decayed.
| 1598 Bp. Hall Sat. iv. iv. 118 Byting on Annis-seede, and Rose-marine, Which might the Fume of his rot lungs refine. 1620 Westward for Smelts (Percy Soc.) 19 Her teeth were rot, Her tongue was not. 1631 R. H. Arraignm. Whole Creature xiv. 235 Those things..are as rot as our Irish bogs, or English Quagmires. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 189 A good quantity of..well-rot Dung and Earth mixt together. |
▪ IV. rot, v. (
rɒt)
Forms: 1
rotian, 3
rotien, 3–4
rotie, 3–5
rotye, 5
rootye; 3–5
roten, 5
rotyn (
rooton); 4
roote, 4–5
root, 5
royt; 4–6
rote,
rotte, 4–
rot.
[Common Teut.: OE. rotian, = Fris. rotsje, MDu. roten, rotten (Du. rotten), OS. rotôn (MLG. roten, LG. rötten), OHG. ro{zced}{zced}ên; Icel. rota (trans.), obs. Da. rodde, r{obar}de: see rotten a., and cf. the etym. note to ret v.2] 1. a. intr. Of animal substances: To undergo natural decomposition; to decay, putrefy, through disease, mortification, or death.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxi. 153 Swa se læce, ðonne he on untiman lacnað wunde, hio wyrmseð & rotað. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 264 Maneᵹum men lungen rotað. c 1055 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 299 Mid þam man smyrað ricra manna lic þæt hiᵹ rotian ne maᵹon. c 1200 Ormin 4773 He warrþ all..secnedd, Swa swiþe þatt hiss bodiȝ toc To rotenn bufenn eorþe. c 1275 Serving Christ 72 in O.E. Misc. 92 Boþe him schal rotye þat body and þe bon. 13.. Sir Beues 2697 Her I legge al to-blowe, And roteþ me flesch fro þe bon. 1387 Trevisa Hidgen (Rolls) I. 363 Þere is an ilond, þere no dede body may roty. c 1440 Jacob's Well 125 Þanne fell on his fote a maladye, þat it rotyd. c 1520 L. Andrew Noble Lyfe L ij, Than the fedders of the goshawke rote of y⊇ dounge of ardea as far as it toucheth. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Acts ii. 9 b, Although his bodye was laid in graue voyde of all lyfe, yet ther it did not rotte or putrify. 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. i. 179 How long will a man lie i' th' earth ere he rot? 1737 Gentl. Mag. VII. 117/2 The rest are stark dead, and may rot when they list. 1791 Cowper Iliad iv. 212 Where he left his brother's bones to rot. 1887 Morris Odyss. xii. 46 Dead men rotting to nothing. |
b. Similarly of other substances liable to natural decay, as timber, fruit, vegetable matter, etc.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxii. 171 Of ðæm treowe sethim, ðæt næfre ne rotað. c 1000 ælfric Exod. xvi. 24 Hit [sc. the manna] ne rotode. c 1200 Vices & Virtues 91 Hier is igadered swilch timber ðe næure rotien ne mai. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3342 It [the manna] wirmede, bredde, and rotede ðor. a 1300 Cursor M. 23893 Þat þat besaunt rote noght in hord. 1382 Wyclif Isaiah xl. 20 The stronge tree, and the vnable to roten, ches the wise craftes man. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) ii. 5 Cedre may noȝt rote in erthe ne in water. 1470–85 Malory Morte Arth. xvii. vi. 698 She lete make a..clothe of sylke that shold neuer rote for no maner of weder. 1530 Palsgr. 694/1 This peare wyll rotte if you eate it nat betyme. 1581 Mulcaster Positions vi. (1887) 40 Like corne not reaped, but suffered to rotte by negligence of the owner. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 540 Yet..the Grasse groweth at least one yard high, and rotteth..upon the ground. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 136 Sycamore-Wood..that does not rot so soon as other Wood. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 34/1 There will be some small unconcocted Stones in it, which afterwards coming to rot, throw out little Pustules. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. iv. 219 Several of her casks had rotted. 1822 Shelley When the Lamp iv, From thy nest every rafter Will rot. 1858 Glenny Everyday Bk. 203/2 Piled in a stack, till the grass and fibre all rot together. 1876 J. Saunders Lion in Path i, Still year after year the fruit has rotted and dropped. |
c. In
pa. pple. used predicatively.
| c 1290 St. James 301 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 43 Þis ȝoungue Man sixe and þritti dawes heng up-on þe galu-treo Are is fader a-ȝein to him come, þat i-roted he auȝte to beo. c 1350 Will. Palerne 4124 For many a day hade i be ded & to dust roted, nadde it be goddes grace. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 475 Whan here body was i-take up of þe erþ e it was i-founde al i-roted and i-torned into powder. 1419 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 69 The Kele..is yrotyt and must be chaungyd. 1561 Hollybush Hom. Apoth. 27 If the iaundis were rotted in a man. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 823 The branches of another roote are rotted. 1668 [see next]. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 7/1 Stones..in Buildings, if their Tops are..rotted, shew the Intemperature of the Air. 1872 Bushnell Serm. Living Subj. 369 They are humbled to a point so low by their idols, rotted into falsehood, buried in lust and shame. |
d. With
away,
off,
out.
| c 1440 Alph. Tales 64 Þer happend a surans for to fall in hys lymbe, þat his fute rotid off. a 1548 Hall Chron., Rich. III, 28 Myles Forest, at sainct Martyns le graunde by pece meale miserably rotted awaye. 1607 Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 63 Thy lips rot off. 1668 Culpeper & Cole Barthol. Anat. iii. ix. 149 Some Scythians, whose earlets ar mortified and rotted of with cold. 1678 Illingsworth (title), A Just Narrative, or Account of the Man whose Hands and Legs rotted off in the Parish of Kingswinford. 1802–12 Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) I. 398 Say, you wish your tongue may rot off,..if you ever saw any such thing. 1849 Lyell 2nd Visit U.S. II. 137 Some of the trunks must have rotted away to the level of the ground. |
e. N. Amer. Of sea or river ice: to melt or thaw.
Cf. rotten a. 4 c.
| 1892 [implied in rotting vbl. n.1]. 1977 New Yorker 20 June 86/2 Ice was beginning to rot. |
2. a. fig. in various contexts, chiefly denoting decay of a moral or abstract kind.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 84 Þeo þet rotieð and stinkeð al ine fulðe of hore sunnen. 1382 Wyclif Jer. xiii. 9 Thus to roten Y shal make the pride of Juda. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. vi. 151 Ryght so religion roteþ and sterueth. 1460 Rolls of Parlt. V. 377/2 Though right for a tyme rest and bee put to silence, yet it roteth not ner shall not perissh. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 271 If wee staye and as it were rotte in these base, brutish and supposed pleasures. 1707 M. Henry Serm. Wks. 1853 II. 597/1 It is true of prayer, what we say of winter, that it never rots in the skies. 1838 Lytton Alice vi. v, Take the history of any civilised state before she rotted back into second childhood. 1870 Lowell Study Windows 25 If they are cheated, it is, at worst, only of a superfluous hour, which was rotting on their hands. 1891 Spectator 13 June, A kind of society..which always ends, sooner or later, by rotting down. |
b. slang. to rot about, to fool about, waste time. Now
rare.
| 1902 E. Nesbit Five Children & It viii. 198 When we're all rotting about in the usual way heaps of things keep cropping up. 1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. 211/1 Rotting about.., wasting time from place to place. 1927 W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 116 ‘To play the fool’ is to rag about, rot about, fool about, play the [giddy] goat, bucket around. |
3. a. Of persons: To become affected with some putrescent or wasting disease,
esp. as the result of confinement in jail. Also
fig., to languish (
in a place).
| 1340 Ayenb. 32 Þe ilke anlikneþ þane ssrewe þet heþ leuere rotye in a prison [etc.]. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xiv. 22 Lo, how pacience..brouhte hem al aboue þat in bale rotede. 1542–3 Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII, c. 8 §1 Many rotte, and perishe to death for lacke of helpe of surgery. 1587 Golding De Mornay xxvii. (1592) 437 If I in the meane whyle do rotte there [in prison]. 1692 Covenant of Grace 11, I might use extremity towards you, cast you into Prison, and there let you Rot. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 22 ¶5 Some will confess their resolution that their debtors shall rot in gaol. 1784 Cowper Task iii. 805 He..Can dig, beg, rot, and perish. 1889 Jessopp Coming of Friars i. 6 The civil authorities took no account of them as long as they quietly rotted and died. 1927 Scribner's Mag. Feb. 168/1 A man must do something. It's better than rotting in the saloons in Casper. 1975 T. Allbeury Special Collection ii. 10 The Moscow Centre has just left them to rot. 1978 I. B. Singer Shosha ii. 39, I asked for Dora and he replied ‘Rotting in Siberia’. |
b. Of sheep: To become affected with the rot.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §66 If thou waine thy calues with hey,..the rather they wyll rotte whan they come to grasse. 1596 Harington Metam. Ajax (1814) 3 The poor sheep would eat him without salt (as they say); but if they do, they will soon after rot with it. 1637 Milton Lycidas 127 The hungry Sheep..Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread. 1683 Tryon Way to Health 88 Over-wet Weather will corrupt them, and cause them to Rot in moist low Grounds. |
4. a. trans. To affect with decomposition, putrescence, or decay; to corrupt, make rotten.
| c 1386 Chaucer Cook's T. 43 Wel bet is roten Appul out of hoord, Than þat it rotie al the remenaunt. 1557 North Gueuara's Diall Pr. 442 Let an apple have never so little a broose, that broose is ynough to rotte him quickely. 1572 J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 118 Her dung is poyson to the Hauke, and rotteth her fethers. 1604 Hieron Wks. I. 504 He shewed His iustice in rotting it at the other time. 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 132 A Dart, that where it does but draw blood, rots the person immediately to pieces. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 58/1 To keep the mortar from rotting the Timber. 1733 Tull Horse-hoeing Husb. 68 It is long continual Rains that Rot or Chill the Blossoms. 1820 W. Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. I. 271 The salt in the sea..destroys the tenacity of the bay-ice.., and, in the language of the whale-fisher, completely rots it. 1889 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. II. 241 It is necessary to rot or sweat ink after it is ground from ten to twenty-four hours. |
| refl. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. iv. 47 This common bodie..Goes too, and backe,..To rot itselfe with motion. 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653) 113 Many of your Cold, Sowr, Rushy Pastures, Rot themselves though never plowed. |
b. fig. Also
const. with
off,
down,
out.
| 1567 Trial Treas. in Hazl. Dodsley III. 284 The Ruler of all rulers will..rot their remembrance off from the ground. 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 116/2 We shall see these vermine that seeke nothing else but to rotte or venime the Church of God. 1628 Ford Lover's Mel. i. ii, Why shouldn't I..snarl at the vices Which rot the land. 1848 Lytton Harold ix. ii, Better that we had rotted out our lives in exile. 1871 Carlyle in Daily News 4 Jan., This I lay at the door of our spiritual teachers.., who thereby incalculably rot the world. 1912 Galsworthy Inn of Tranquility 79 ‘They don't do a stroke more than they're obliged,’ he ended;..‘Yes,’ he muttered, ‘the nation is being rotted down.’ |
c. spec. To ret.
Cf. rotting vbl. n. 2.
| 1811 Weekly Reg. 5 Oct. 86/1 (heading) Process for rotting hemp. 1835–6 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VIII. 702/1 The operation of rotting, or as it is most commonly called, water-retting, flax and hemp. |
d. slang. To spoil, interfere with; to ruin. Also
const. up.
| 1908 A. S. M. Hutchinson Once aboard Lugger vi. viii. 344 You rotted my show all right. 1908 D. Coke House Prefect viii. 104 You can see Bob's off you, and we don't want to rot the whole thing up, just when he's begun to be decent again. 1932 ‘A. Bridge’ Peking Picnic xxv. 323 I've got a complex about the whole business, and you know why. Well, that might rot it all up, at any moment. 1973 N. W. Schur British Self-Taught 335 To rot a plan is to spoil it. 1978 Sunday Times 15 Jan. 42/7 A turquoise velvet top (detested since I rotted up a quiz programme in it). |
5. To affect (sheep) with the rot. Also
absol.| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 408 Þanne he lediþ his sheep wel in hool pasture þat wole not rote. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §54 It is necessary that a shepeherde shoulde knowe what thynge rotteth shepe. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. iv. iv. 93 More dangerous Then baites to fish, or hony stalkes to sheepe, When as the one is wounded with the baite, The other rotted with delicious foode. a 1656 Vines Lord's Supper (1677) 221 No shepherd would call his sheep into such pastures as will certainly rot them. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. i. ii, Blashy thows..may rot your ews. 1794 Trans. Soc. Arts XII. 235 Produce of the land..very rushy,..and always rotted sheep. 1854 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XV. i. 234 Apparently sound pastures..have rotted sheep this Season. |
6. Used in imprecations against a person or thing, sometimes merely an outburst of irritation or impatience.
| 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. v. i. 58 But vengeance rot you all. 1611 ― Cymb. ii. iii. 136 The South-Fog rot him. 1664 Cotton Scarronides i. Wks. (1715) 37 Where once your what shall's call'ums—(rot em, It makes me mad I have forgot 'em), Liv'd a great while. 1682 Dryden Prol. to Southerne's Loyal Brother 5 Both pretend love, and both (plague rot 'em!) hate. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 73 ¶2 Rot you, Sir, I have more Wit than you. 1756 Foote Engl. fr. Paris ii, I'll be rot if we don't make them caper higher. 1767 S. Paterson Anoth. Trav. II. 52 Rot the name of the first post! I have forgot it. 1817 Keats Lett. Wks. 1889 III. 74 For, rot it! I forgot to bring my mathematical case with me. 1859 Dickens T. Two Cities ii. v, ‘She was the admiration of the whole Court!’ ‘Rot the admiration of the whole Court!’ |
7. slang. To chaff severely; to abuse, denigrate. Also
absol., to talk nonsense; to joke. (
Cf. rot n.1 5.)
| 1890 Lehmann H. Fludyer at Cambridge 106 Everybody here would have rotted me to death. 1890 W. E. Henley Let. 6 June in J. Connell W. E. Henley (1949) vii. 182 He'd have given much to hear you rotting the Alien. 1899 Phillpotts Human Boy 169 Freckles, who was an awfully sportsman-like chap really, said he was only rotting all the time. 1905 H. A. Vachell Hill vii. 155 Has anybody been rotting you? 1914 ‘I. Hay’ Lighter Side School Life vii. 181 We don't do any work: we just rot Duck-face. We simply rag his soul out. 1914 G. B. Shaw Fanny's First Play iii. 200 But I'm serious: I'm not rotting. Really and truly—. 1922 S. Leslie Oppidan iii. 38 A sport taking the mysterious form of ‘rotting the Flea’. 1934 R. Macaulay Going Abroad xxx. 264 There are things one simply mustn't rot about, I feel. |