rout 1 
(rout)
(rout)n.
1.
a. A disorderly retreat or flight following defeat.
b. An overwhelming defeat.
2.
a. A disorderly crowd of people; a mob.
b. People of the lowest class; rabble.
3. A public disturbance; a riot.
4. A fashionable gathering.
5. Archaic A group of people, especially knights, or of animals, especially wolves.
tr.v. rout·ed, rout·ing, routs
1. To put to disorderly flight or retreat: "the flock of starlings which Jasper had routed with his gun" (Virginia Woolf).
2. To defeat overwhelmingly. See Synonyms at defeat.
[Middle English route, from Old French, troop, defeat, from Vulgar Latin *rupta, from feminine of Latin ruptus, past participle of rumpere, to break; see reup- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]