▪ I. rut, n.1
(rʌt)
Forms: 5–6 rutte (5 ruthe), 5, 7 rutt, 7 rute; 6– rut.
[a. OF. rut, var. of ruit:—pop. L. *rugĭt-um for L. rugītum, acc. of rugītus, f. rugīre to roar.]
1. The annually recurring sexual excitement of male deer; also, by extension, periodic sexual excitement in other animals, as goats, sheep, etc.
| c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) ii, Þei [sc. harts] be in hir loue, þe whiche men calleth Rutte, aboute þe tyme of holy rode in Septembre. 1576 Turberv. Venerie xvii. 45 During the time of their Rut, they [sc. harts] lyue with small sustenance. 1600 Surflet Countrie Farme vii. xxiv. 845 Thus also they passe and spende both day and night, being so enraged and feruently caried away with the rut..(alwaies following the steps and footings of the Hinde). 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 127 This part in Deere.., about the end of their Rutt,..sometimes becomes..relaxed and pendulous. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1824) I. 379 A short time after they [sc. stags] have furnished their horns, they begin to feel the impressions of the rut. Ibid. 381 In the time of rut it [the stag's voice] is even terrible. 1860 Tanner Pregnancy 49 During the rut or heat of animals. 1861 G. F. Berkeley Eng. Sportsman iii. 41 They kill the bucks too late or when the ‘rut’ is coming on. |
b. In phr. at or † in (the) rut, to go to (the) rut.
| (a) c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) ii, They sle..eyther oþer, whann þei be in Rutte, þat is to say in þer loue. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 225 Of suche lokynge bene bestis in ruthe. 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 31 Az ramz at their rut. 1576 Turberv. Venerie xliv. 141 When a Hart hath bene .xiiii. dayes at Rut, then the Bucke doth but scarcely beginne. a 1653 G. Daniel Idyll iii. 88 Antler'd and Palmed now,..he goares them out Stand in his way, now rageing at the Rutt. 1714 Gay Sheph. Week Proeme, He [Theocritus] rightly, throughout his fifth Idyll, maketh his Louts..behold their Goats at Rut in all Simplicity. 1796 W. H. Marshall W. England II. 7 The Ewes are now at rut. |
| (b) c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) iii, Þe herte goth raþer to þe Rutte [than the buck]. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §37 Than the bucke goth to the rut, and so wolde the ramme. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 144 b, The time when you shall suffer them to go to rutte, is in Autume. 1626 Bacon Sylva §758 We finde, that the Time of Going to Rut of Deere is in September. |
| transf. 1648 Winyard Midsummer-Moon 1 He was begot ith' Dog-dayes, or at Michaelmas when his Dam went to Rut. |
† 2. The company of deer among which a stag goes to rut. Obs.
| c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) ii, Communlich the grettest hert..holdeth þe rutte and is maistre þerof. Ibid., Also þer is diueres ruttes in þe forest. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. ii. i. i. (1651) 436 Lions and Harts, which..many times kill each other, or compell them to abandon the rut, that they may remain masters in their places. 1640 Earl of Cork in Lismore Papers 1st Ser. (1886) V. 162 One live Buck, to beat the Rutt withall. |
3. attrib., as rut-time.
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. v. v. 15, I am heere a Windsor Stagge, and the fattest (I thinke) i'th Forrest. Send me a coole rut-time (loue). 1611 Cotgr., Ruité, thats killed, or gotten, in rut-time. 1889 Westermarck Orig. Marriage 36 Dr. Mohnike..mentions the occurrence of a rut-time with the Orang-utan. |
▪ II. rut, n.2
(rʌt)
Forms: α. 6– rut, 6 rupt, 7 rutt. β. 6 rotte, 7–8 rote, 7 -root(e.
[Of obscure origin.
Usually regarded as a variant of route n., but the difference in vowel, and the rarity of route in the 16th cent., make this improbable. The spelling rupt suggests possible connexion with OF. rupt, rut stream, but the English sense is app. unknown in French. The question is also complicated by the variants rote, root(e, rit(t, occurring chiefly in the combs. cart-rote, -root(e, and cart-ritt (1649): cf. also ruck n.3]
1. A (deep) furrow or track made in the ground, esp. in a soft road, by the passage of a wheeled vehicle or vehicles.
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Vne Orniére, the rut or tracke of a wheele. 1600 Surflet Countrie Farme v. vii. 668 The furrowes and rupts of carts. 1658–9 in Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 5, I desired them, as the course is, to put on, or to let me have one of the ruts. 1794 Gibbon in Misc. Wks. (1796) I. 296, I was almost killed..by hard, frozen, long, and cross ruts, that would disgrace the approach of an Indian wig wam. 1806 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life ii. v, When you have trusted your foot on a frozen rut. 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 34 A sleepy land, where under the same wheel The same old rut would deepen year by year. 1883 S. C. Hall Retrospect II. 304 We had to leave the car..while peasants helped it over the ruts. |
b. fig. and in fig. context.
| 1608 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. iii. Schisme 624 A long⁓tail'd squib, a flaming ridge, for rut Seems seen a while, where the bright Coach hath cut. 1705 Pennsylvania Hist. Soc. Mem. X. 32 He might prove such a rut in his way as might render his journey very fruitless. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 455 The goddess..drives so eagerly as not to heed the rotes in her way. 1892 Stevenson Across the Plains 213 It had worn a rut in the commerce of Great Britain. |
c. fig. A settled or established habit or mode of procedure; a narrow, undeviating course of life or action; a groove.
| 1839 Carlyle Chartism 112 Parliaments, lumbering along in their deep ruts of commonplace. 1865 Skelton Campaigner at Home iv. 71 On his return to civilised life, he will settle at once into the rut. 1874 L. Stephen Hours Libr. (1892) II. iii. 95 A man whose conversation runs in ruts. |
2. A track or passage hollowed out, cut, or excavated in the ground. rare.
| c 1611 Chapman Iliad iv. 479 As from hils, raine waters headlong fall, That all waies eate huge Ruts, which, met in one bed [etc.]. 1787 Winter Syst. Husb. 326 The soil lying hollow with the mole's ruts. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 405 It is of course worked by the hand alone, and makes simply a rut in the ground. 1884 T. Speedy Sport Highl. xix. 374 As daylight began to close, the ravens appeared and settled in the ‘rut’ [a gully]. |
3. transf. A deep mark or depression on the skin, some part of the body, etc.
| 1623 Webster Duchess Malfi ii. i, From your scuruy face-physicke, To behold thee not painted enclines somewhat neere A miracle: These in thy face here, were deepe rutts. a 1635 Randolph Hey for Honesty iv. iii, These many ruts and furrows in thy cheeks Proves thy old face to be but champion-ground, Till'd with the plough of age. 1863 tr. Waitz' Introd. Anthrop. 95 The negro has no inter-maxillary bone, but only..a rut which marks it. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 897 The groove [of ainhum] always begins as a shallow transverse crack or rut, at the inner angle of the digito-plantar fold. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as rut-gulled, rut-rifted, rut-way; rut scraper U.S., a machine for filling up cart-ruts by scraping in the displaced material.
| 1611 Cotgr., Charrau, a Cart-way; Rutt-way. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 111 When thy rut-gull'd lanes Run little brooks with hasty rains. Ibid. II. 33 We turned up the rut-rifted lane. 1868 Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869) 361 Prevention [of mud-holes] can be effected..by the use of the rut scraper. |
▪ III. rut, n.3 Now U.S. and dial.
(rʌt)
Also 7 rutt(e.
[Of doubtful origin: cf. the variant rote n.6 There is connexion of sense with rout n.5 and v.2, and with ON. rót (whence Gael. rot) breaking of waves, but the vowels of these do not agree with either rut or rote.]
The roaring of the sea, esp. in breaking on the shore. Freq. rut of the sea.
| 1633 T. James Voy. 8 We heard the rutt of the shoare, as we thought: but it prooued to be the rutt against a banke of Ice. 1694 Motteux Rabelais iv. xviii, The Rut of the Sea was great, the Waves breaking upon our Ships Quarter. 1820 Wilbraham Cheshire Gloss. 55 The rut of the sea is the dashing of the waves against any thing. 1847 D. Webster Priv. Corr. (1857) II. 262, I hear the sea very strong and loud at the north... They call this the rote or rut of the sea. a 1862 Thoreau Cape Cod v. (1894) 115 The old man said that this was what they called the ‘rut’, a peculiar roar of the sea before the wind changes. |
▪ IV. † rut, n.4 Obs. rare.
[Of doubtful origin: cf. prec. and rout n.1 8.]
Noise, disturbance.
| 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. ii. Argt., To see the rutte the Sea⁓gods keepe: There swaggering in the Solent deepe. Ibid. ii. 446 There arose such rut th' unrulie rout among That soone the noyse thereof through all the ocean rong. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Praise Hempseed Wks. iii. 62 One with the Grasshopper doth keepe a rut, Another rimes vpon a Hazell nut. c 1700 Kennett in MS. Lansd. 1033 s.v., To keep a rut; i.e. to be meddling and doing mischief. Kent. |
▪ V. rut, n.5 Sc. rare.
[f. rut v.2 Cf. rit n.1]
A cut or incision.
| 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. Pl. xxix, A long rut..is made with the spade along each side,..so as to form the cut of the turf slanting outward. |
▪ VI. rut
see root n.1
▪ VII. † rut, v.1 Obs.
[app. related to rout v.6]
1. trans. To fling, cast, or throw.
| 1375 Creation 301 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 128 Whanne we were þus fro blesse rut, And þow in þat blisse put, Þo hadde y to þe enuye. c 1400 Destr. Troy 3695 The wyndes..Rut vp the rughe se on rokkes aboute. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 439/2 Rutton, or throwyn (K. rwtyn,..P. ruttyn..), projicio. |
2. intr. To dash, move with violence.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 5699 His shippes..Gird on the ground..Till þai rut on a Rocke, & rent all to peses. Ibid. 12691 Barges & othir..Rut euyn to þe rokkis with a rank will. |
▪ VIII. rut, v.2 Now Sc.
[var. of rit v.1]
† 1. To cut, pierce, thrust, with a weapon. Obs.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 6977 Þen Paris,..with a pile sharp, Rut hym in thurgh þe rybbis. Ibid. 10704 He pairet his armur, Rut þurgh his rybbes, rent hym with in. |
2. spec. To cut or make a furrow through (turf) with a spade, etc. Cf. rit v.1 1 b.
| 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. Pl. xxix, The work is to proceed in this manner, always rutting the through band rows of turf in both ends. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 374 With the common spade then cut, or, as it is technically termed, rut the line of hedge-bed behind the cord. Ibid. 503 The upper rough turf is rutted in a perpendicular direction. |
b. To cut off (earth) with a spade; to take off or remove by rutting.
| 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 507 The principal workman is rutting off the second side of the top of the drain with the common spade. |
▪ IX. rut, v.3
(rʌt)
[f. rut n.1, or ad. obs. F. rutter, ruter (Godef.).]
1. intr. To be under the influence of (periodic) sexual excitement.
| a 1625 Fletcher Elder Brother v. ii, That is your penance, you know for what, and see you rut no more; you understand me. 1663 Dryden Wild Gallant ii. ii, I am just in the condition of an out-lying deer, that's beaten from his walk for offering to rut. 1884 Pall Mall G. 12 Aug. 4/1 As for stags.., they are rutting in October. 1889 Westermarck Orig. Marriage 49 The buck and the ass in southern countries..rut throughout the whole year. |
2. trans. To mount or cover (the female). rare—1.
| 1700 Dryden tr. Ovid's Cinyras & Myrrha 46 What piety forbids the lusty ram, Or more salacious goat, to rut their dam? |
▪ X. rut, v.4
(rʌt)
[f. rut n.2
In quots. 1822 and 1647 (sense 2) there may be some connexion with root v.2 and rout v.8]
1. trans. To mark (a road or the ground) with ruts; to furrow. (Chiefly in pa. pple.)
| 1607 Markham Caval. iv. (1617) 54 Some high way which in the winter time hauing been rutted [etc.]. 1815 Scott Paul's Lett. (1839) 152 The ground was..strangely broken up and rutted by the wheels of the artillery. 1822 J. Flint Lett. fr. Amer. 205 The adjoining grounds perhaps..overgrown with rank weeds, or rutted by hogs. 1884 Sala Journ. South i. xxiv. (1887) 313 One street [in Pompeii] with..its pavement rutted by chariot-wheels. |
| fig. 1819 Scott Let. in Lockhart xlvi. (1837) IV. 336, I certainly studied..to get out of the old beaten track, leaving those who like to keep the road, which I have rutted pretty well. 1844 Kinglake Eothen xvi, I saw how deeply it was rutted with the ruts of age and misery. |
† 2. intr. Of a stag: (see quot.). Obs.—1
| 1647 Hexham i. Hunting-terms, The Stagg ruts with his hornes in the earth. |
▪ XI. † rut, v.5 Obs.—1
[app. for route: see route n. 1, quots. 1568–1594.]
intr. To keep a course.
| 1588 Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China 305 From whence vnto the..Canarias is two hundred and thirtie leagues, and [the ships] alwayes doo Rut to the southwest. |