rotn.1int.
/rɒt/, U.S. /rɑt/ 1.
a. The process of rotting, or the state of being rotten; decay or decomposition; putrefaction; an instance of this. Also: rotten or decayed material.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > corruption or putridness > [noun] > process of
rottingOE
corruption1377
rotc1384
putrefactiona1400
putrification1548
putriture1569
tainting1593
decay1594
putrescence1646
decomposition1777
sepsis1813
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Micah ii. 10 For the vnclennesse therof it shal be corrupt with the warst rott [L. putredine].
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 5921 (MED) For þe rotte [Fairf. rette, Trin. Cambr. root] þat þar-on fell..Ne was in hus na vessel fre..O þis watur þat sua stanc.
c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 1079 (MED) Þer watz rose reflayr where rote hatz ben ever.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 437 Rot..corrupcio, putrefaccio.
1483 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 89074) (1881) 312/1 A Rote, caria, caries, liuor.
a1500 (?c1378) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 434 (MED) Her godis be wastid wiþ-ynne wiþ rot & wormes & oþer maner.
c1540 J. Bellenden tr. H. Boece Hyst. & Cron. Scotl. Proh. sig. Av As precius balme reuertis thingis sare And makis thaym of rot impacient.
a1612 J. Harington Epigrams (1618) i. 89 Keepe corne and cloth, till rat and rot consume it, Let meat so mould, till muske cannot perfume it.
1752 Philos. Trans. 1749–50 (Royal Soc.) 46 444 It was a hollow Bag, as he thought, filled with Rot and corruption.
1840 Cottager's Monthly Visitor Jan. 31 Things would always go much further and last much longer, for not being allowed to consume with rot and mouldiness.
1854 S. T. Dobell Balder i. 6 Your rot Glimmers in corse-lights on the shuddering dark.
1883 C. Grindrod King Henry I iii. i, in Plays from Eng. Hist. 109 There in the lowest dungeon, whose foul rot Poisons the sweetness of the natural air.
1959 S. Plath Jrnl. 19 Oct. (2000) 519 Separate baby and poem from decay and rot.
1994 B. A. Staples Parallel Time xi. 201 At the 63rd Street market the meat was unfit for consumption. The produce stank of rot.
2004 A. Furst Dark Voy. 204 It's the growing medium that smells—mushrooms feed on rot.
b. figurative. Degeneration, decline. See also the rot sets in at Phrases 1, to stop the rot at Phrases 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > adversity > [noun] > fall from prosperous or thriving condition > fallen condition
ruina1393
rot1581
declension1642
declinedness1648
downwardness1650
decayedness1702
decline1705
blast1795
the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > worse > [noun] > other
rot1581
off-falling1607
impoverishment1618
degradation1770
1581 R. Mulcaster Positions xxxvii. 159 (margin) The main rot of the Romaine empire.
1601 J. Weever Mirror of Martyrs sig. A vij Many headed Rumour, Vices preseruer, vertues festred rot.
1658 J. Spencer Καινα και Παλαια 608 Sin..is a generall rot and corruption of the Soul.
1859 J. G. Whittier Preacher 65 From the death of the old the new proceeds, And the life of truth from the rot of creeds.
1968 A. K. Armah Beautyful Ones are not yet Born vii. 107 The man on the desk watched him closely, wondering how a man like him could see so clearly through the rot and yet find the strength to live in it, against it.
1991 N.Y. Times 8 Dec. i. 30/1 I was desperate to keep my brain alive... I was deadly scared that I would lapse into some kind of mental rot.
2.
a. Disease resulting in (real or supposed) decay, wasting, or festering of tissue in a person's body; an instance of this; now rare. Also in figurative context and figurative. Frequently with the. In later use also (usually with distinguishing word): any of several specific, often bacterial or fungal, diseases, esp. syphilis, tuberculosis, and pneumoconiosis. Barcoo, grinder's, jungle, miner's, potter's rot, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > diseases of tissue > wasting disease > [noun] > other wasting diseases
rotc1384
feauges1624
atrophying cirrhosis1886
kwashiorkor1935
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Hab. iii. 16 Rott [L. putredo] entre in to my boonys.
a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Prov. xii. 4 Rot [a1382 E.V. stinc; L. putredo] is in the boonys of that womman, that doith thingis worthi of confusioun.
c1450 Practica Phisicalia John of Burgundy in H. Schöffler Mittelengl. Medizinlit. (1919) 204 (MED) Drynke þis syrupe and yt scall dystroie the rote with-in-forþe.
1584 J. Rainolds Six Concl. in J. Rainolds & J. Hart Summe of Conf. 698 There creepeth an owgly rot at this present through the whole body of the Church.
a1592 R. Greene Sc. Hist. Iames IV (1598) iv. sig. G3 Go, and the rot consume thee!
a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) iv. iii. 64 I will not kisse thee, then the rot returnes To thine owne lippes againe. View more context for this quotation
1650 J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis 87 We most justly abhorre the Nose that is sunk into this figure by the Venerian rot.
1662 R. Mathews Unlearned Alchymist (new ed.) 69 Abusing himself in all blasphemies, riot and excess, in due time the Rot, or the Pox overtook them.
1704 J. Tily Select Orations 182 Let him wallow amongst Eunuchs and effeminate Beaus; and live amongst the Stews, till fill'd with the Venereal Rot, he vomits up his polluted Soul.
1836 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 510/2 The disease called grinder's rot, an incurable consumption.
1898 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. V. 244 ‘Grinders' rot’, ‘miners' rot’ and so forth.
1945 S. J. Baker Austral. Lang. iii. 62 Barcoo rot, Kennedy rot or Queensland sore, a festering sore difficult to cure under inland conditions—it rapidly disappears when the sufferer eats plenty of fruit or green vegetables.
1949 H. Wilcox White Stranger xi. 261 That fine youth with the rot of frambœsea already eating into the root of his manhood.
1985 M. Atwood Handmaid's Tale (1988) iv. xii. 82 Pantyhose gives you crotch rot, Moira used to say.
2003 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 19 Oct. (Body & Soul section) 13/2 (advt.) Nail rot is a fungal infection of the toe or finger nails.
b. In the imprecation rot on (also rot upon). Cf. rot v. 6. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > oaths other than religious or obscene > imprecations
woeOE
dahetc1290
confoundc1330
foul (also shame) fall ——c1330
sorrow on——c1330
in the wanianda1352
wildfirea1375
evil theedomc1386
a pestilence on (also upon)c1390
woe betide you (also him, her, etc.)c1390
maldathaita1400
murrainc1400
out ona1415
in the wild waning worldc1485
vengeance?a1500
in a wanion1549
with a wanion1549
woe worth1553
a plague on——a1566
with a wanion to?c1570
with a wanyand1570
bot1584
maugre1590
poxa1592
death1593
rot1594
rot on1595
cancro1597
pax1604
pize on (also upon)1605
vild1605
peascod1606
cargo1607
confusion1608
perditiona1616
(a) pest upon1632
deuce1651
stap my vitals1697
strike me blind, dumb, lucky (if, but—)1697
stop my vitals1699
split me (or my windpipe)1700
rabbit1701
consume1756
capot me!1760
nick me!1760
weary set1788
rats1816
bad cess to1859
curse1885
hanged1887
buggeration1964
1595 G. Peele Old Wiues Tale sig. C4v A rot on you all.
1638 A. Cowley Loves Riddle i. sig. B2 A rott upon you; you must still be humoured.
a1641 T. Heywood Captives (1953) ii. ii. 40 Rott on that villeine no.
1857 H. Melville Confidence-man xxii. 178 A thrice dear purchase one of your boys would be to me. A rot on your boys!
1894 Rev. Rec. Constit. Convent. State N.Y. 1034 I might say, in the language of the poet, slightly modified, ‘A rot on both your houses.’
1907 A. Chapman Ralph in Switch Tower xxviii. 227 They don't budge. Oh, rot on you! guying a fellow.
3. † c. An instance or outbreak of rot (fascioliasis) in sheep (or rarely in other animals). Also in extended use. Obsolete.
a. The acute, frequently fatal, disease caused in sheep (or, rarely, in other animals) by the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica; acute hepatic fascioliasis. Frequently with the. Also figurative. Now chiefly historical.Also called liver rot, sheep rot.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of sheep > [noun] > rot
rotc1425
sheep-rot1552
rottenness1607
poke1793
milt1857
bane1859
c1425 (c1400) Laud Troy-bk. 5808 (MED) Ector him hew as fflesch to pot; The Gregeis died as schep In rot.
a1450 Rule St. Benet (Vesp.) (1902) 1331 (MED) For thurgh a schep þat rote hase hent May many schep with rote be schent.
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1897–1973) 101 (MED) All my shepe ar gone..The rott has theym slone.
a1538 T. Starkey Dial. Pole & Lupset (1989) 66 When they [sc. sheep] are closyd in ranke pasturys & batful ground they are sone touchyd wyth the skabe & the rotte.
1546 Supplic. Poor Commons sig. c.ii When it hath pleased god to punyshe vs with the roote of oure shepe.
1647 J. Trapp Comm. Epist. & Rev. (Rom. v. 12) As the rot over-runneth the whole flock.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xii. 179 His Cattel must of Rot and Murren die. View more context for this quotation
1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 69 Sometimes the Rot among Cattel is rather a Relief than a Damage.
1809 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 21 93 The rot in sheep often prevails to an alarming degree, in the up-lands that skirt these fens.
1830 J. Baxter Libr. Agric. & Hort. Knowl. 323 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.
1901 E. Step Shell Life xvii. 314 Could [this species] but be entirely exterminated there would be some hope that Rot, that scourge of the sheep-farmer, could be got rid of.
1978 A. Fenton Northern Isles liv. 454 Sheep are subject to various diseases... Other diseases were the rot or green-sickness, sturdy, [etc.]
2007 R. Lovegrove Silent Fields iv. 165 Shrubb has shown how severely sheep farming in the eighteenth century was plagued by ‘rot’ (almost certainly liver fluke).
b. With distinguishing word: any of various other (typically bacterial) diseases affecting livestock or other animals. Also: a microorganism causing such a disease (rare).foot, hoof, mouth, pelt, silkworm, winter rot, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of cattle > [noun] > bacterial disorders
rot?1523
white scour1742
lamsiekte1790
puckeridgea1793
puck1834
Texas fever1867
cattle-fever1893
piroplasmosis1901
abortus fever1925
brucellosis1930
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xxiiiiv There is a nother rote is called pelt rote: and that cometh of great weate, specially in wood countreis where they can nat drie.
1614 G. Markham Cheape & Good Husbandry 80 The next rot to it, is the Pelt-rot, which commeth by great store of raine, immediately after a Sheepe is new shorne, which meldewing the skinne, corrupteth the body.
1708 Phillips's New World of Words Clausick or Clausike, the Claw-sickness or Foot-rot in Sheep.
1799 Ess. Highland Soc. III. 465 Many different kinds of rot..as the..fell-rot, the bone-rot and other rots.
1855 J. Ogilvie Suppl. Imperial Dict. Silk-worm rot, a fungous plant, the Botrytis bassiana, which kills silk-worms in great numbers.
1863 H. S. Randall Pract. Shepherd ii. 25 Scab and hoof-rot, those dire scourges of the ovine race.
1916 E. T. Baker Sheep Dis. 128 Fat scab, due to dampness, often called ‘rain-rot’.
1946 Sci. Monthly July 29/1 The twin plagues of the snake collector, mouth-rot and mites, have never appeared in my specimens of Farancia.
1997 A. Roy God of Small Things (1998) i. 13 Most of the fish had died. The ones that survived suffered from fin-rot and had broken out in boils.
2001 P. Simmons & C. Ekarius Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep viii. 208 Combine a high-protein diet with the bacteria Corynebacterium renale, and your ram may have trouble with pizzle rot.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of sheep > [noun] > rot > form or instance of
rota1538
a1538 T. Starkey Dial. Pole & Lupset (1989) 66 Commynly they dye of skabe & rottys in grete nombur, wych cumyth..bycause they are nuryschyd in so fat pasture.
1583 J. Foxe Actes & Monuments (ed. 4) I. 339/2 About this time was a great earthquake, and suche a rotte, that consumed a great multitude of sheep, in the land through the occasion as they say, of one scabbed shepe that came out of Spayne.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary 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 H. More Divine Dialogues ii. x. 226 Nor dare I adventure to propose to you the Murrain of Cattel or Rots of Sheep.
a1687 C. Cotton Poems (1689) 86 Gravely enquiring how Ewes are a Score..And if or no there's like to be a Rot.
1763 J. Mills New Syst. Pract. Husbandry III. 416 A farmer who kept four hundred sheep tried this receipt in the last general rot (about five years ago).
1765 H. Walpole Lett. (1892) IV. 432 There seems to be a rot among princes: the Emperor Don Philip and the Duke are dead.
1864 J. Forster Life Sir J. Eliot I. 102 Was not the first rot or scab that came among English sheep brought by one out of Spain?
Thesaurus »
Categories »
d. As the second element in the names of plants (formerly) believed to cause rot (fascioliasis) in sheep. Cf. rot-grass n. at Compounds 2.penny, red, sheep, white rot: see the first element.
4.
a. Decay in timber or in the wood of standing trees, or in certain other plant-derived construction materials. In extended use also: decomposition or deterioration of rock, stone, or stone-built structures (cf. rottenstone n.).heart, red, ring, saltpetre, sap, shoestring rot, etc.: see the first element. See also dry rot n. 1 and wet rot n. at wet adj. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > condition of matter > bad condition of matter > [noun] > decay or decaying
decas1393
decay1523
corrupting1565
fretting1582
marcor1646
contabescence1650
rot1663
decayedness1702
1663 B. Gerbier Counsel to Builders 23 The bording otherwayes is much subject to rott.
1724 P. Miller Gardeners & Florists Dict. II. sig. Y8 v This Plaistering the wounded Parts of a Tree, is of great Use, as well for bringing large and vigorous Shoots, as preserving from Canker or the Rot.
1820 T. Tredgold Elem. Princ. Carpentry (ed. 2) 193 It is usual to divide rot into two kinds, the wet rot, and the dry rot.
1830 C. 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 R. W. Emerson Man the Reformer in Dial Apr. 529 Every species of property is preyed on by its own enemies, as iron by rust; timber by rot.
1882 H. de Windt On Equator 85 Enormous holes in the bamboo flooring occasioned by rot.
1910 A. T. Byrne Inspection Materials & Workmanship Constr. (ed. 2) ii. 16 The Defects of Granite are termed knots, sap, shakes, and rot... Rot is the name given to stone which crumbles easily.
1934 Forestry 8 155 Among the wood-rot diseases of conifers, that caused by Trametes pini, known variously as red rot, red stain, white pocket rot, ring scale, conk rot etc., is certainly the most destructive.
1954 Archit. Rev. 115 284/3 (caption) Walls. These are 1 m. wide, storey high, panels of timber framing impregnated against wet and dry rot.
1999 D. Ingram & N. Robertson Plant Dis. xi. 217 As the rot progresses it may destroy the central wood from the base of the tree to high in the trunk, producing a so-called heart rot.
b. Disease causing decay in living plants; (with distinguishing word) any of various fungal and bacterial diseases affecting plants, fruits, or other plant organs, typically causing discoloration and softening of tissue. For decay in the wood of trees see sense 4a.black, brown, fusarium, neck, pocket, soft rot, etc.: see the first element.
ΚΠ
1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Compl. Gard'ner ii. vi. v. 184 All that I had in those squares, not only of Kitchen-Plants,..but to the very Fruit-Trees were visibly perceived to perish, the Plants with the rot, and the Trees with the Jaundice.
1793 J. Madison Let. 13 June in T. Jefferson Papers (1995) XXVI. 274 The weather..has continued raining or cloudy... This has brought on [in wheat] a little of the rust, and..a decay of the ear called the Rot.
1818 Asiatic Jrnl. & Monthly Reg. Dec. 661/2 In addition to the ravages of the rot and the caterpillar, the [cotton] crops have suffered from a recent premature fall of frost.
1894 B. S. Williams Orchid-grower's Man. 69 Orchids are subject to diseases... Of these the most injurious are the Rot and the Spot.
1902 Science 22 Aug. 314/1 For several years the writers have had under observation a soft rot of certain cruciferous plants, particularly cabbage and cauliflower.
1917 H. W. Conn Bacteria, Yeasts, & Molds in Home (rev. ed.) iv. 41 If one simply examines decaying apples, pears, lemons, and bananas, the difference in the character of the decay is quite evident... Bitter rot, black rot, and brown rot are three types produced by three different organisms.
1939 E. A. Bessey Text-bk. Mycol. (new ed.) iv. 88 Phytophthora infestans, the cause of the late blight of potato plants (Solanum tuberosum) and rot of potato tubers, was first observed as a serious enemy of this host about 1845.
1967 H. Hill & E. Dodsworth Food Inspection Notes (ed. 7) 113 Celery. Generally eaten raw; bright and crisp when fresh; coarse and stringy when stale; may suffer from ‘brown rot,’ hearts becoming rotten.
2002 Nature Conservancy Spring 36/3 Most other pods on each tree are covered with a moldy white fungus known as monilia, or pod rot, rendering the fruit inedible and the seeds unusable.
5. slang. Ridiculous or nonsensical talk or ideas; nonsense, rubbish. Also: pointless or fatuous activity. Also as int. Cf. tommyrot n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > [noun]
magged talea1387
moonshine1468
trumperyc1485
foolishness1531
trash1542
baggage1545
flim-flam1570
gear1570
rubbisha1576
fiddle-faddle1577
stuff1579
fible-fable1581
balductum1593
pill1608
nonsense1612
skimble-skamble1619
porridge1642
mataeology1656
fiddle-come-faddle1663
apple sauce1672
balderdash1674
flummery1749
slang1762
all my eye1763
diddle-daddle1778
(all) my eye (and) Betty Martin1781
twaddle1782
blancmange1790
fudge1791
twiddle-twaddle1798
bothering1803
fee-faw-fum1811
slip-slop1811
nash-gab1816
flitter-tripe1822
effutiation1823
bladderdash1826
ráiméis1828
fiddlededee1843
pickles1846
rot1846
kelter1847
bosh1850
flummadiddle1850
poppycock1852
Barnum1856
fribble-frabble1859
kibosh1860
skittle1864
cod1866
Collyweston1867
punk1869
slush1869
stupidness1873
bilge-water1878
flapdoodle1878
tommyrot1880
ruck1882
piffle1884
flamdoodle1888
razzmatazz1888
balls1889
pop1890
narrischkeit1892
tosh1892
footle1894
tripe1895
crap1898
bunk1900
junk1906
quatsch1907
bilge1908
B.S.1912
bellywash1913
jazz1913
wash1913
bullshit?1915
kid-stakes1916
hokum1917
bollock1919
bullsh1919
bushwa1920
noise1920
bish-bosh1922
malarkey1923
posh1923
hooey1924
shit1924
heifer dust1927
madam1927
baloney1928
horse feathers1928
phonus-bolonus1929
rhubarb1929
spinach1929
toffeea1930
tomtit1930
hockey1931
phoney baloney1933
moody1934
cockalorum1936
cock1937
mess1937
waffle1937
berley1941
bull dust1943
crud1943
globaloney1943
hubba-hubba1944
pish1944
phooey1946
asswipe1947
chickenshit1947
slag1948
batshit1950
goop1950
slop1952
cack1954
doo-doo1954
cobbler1955
horse shit1955
nyamps1955
pony1956
horse manure1957
waffling1958
bird shit1959
codswallop1959
how's your father1959
dog shit1963
cods1965
shmegegge1968
pucky1970
taradiddle1970
mouthwash1971
wank1974
gobshite1977
mince1985
toss1990
arse1993
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > nonsense! [interjection]
strawc1412
tilly-vallya1529
flam-flirt1590
fiddlestick1600
fiddle-faddle1671
stuff1701
snuff1725
fudge1766
fiddlededeea1784
rats1816
havers1825
humbug1825
gammon1827
rubbish1839
pickles1846
rot1846
skittle1864
slush1869
flapdoodle1878
quatsch1907
phooey1908
tommyrot1931
balls1938
no shit1939
bollocks1940
phonus-bolonus1955
hockey1961
leave it out!1969
1846 Punch 10 136/2 Peel and Potato-blight defy To make him hold his tongue, or try To talk aught else but ‘rot’!
1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. vi. 138 Let's stick to him, and talk no more rot.
1879 M. E. Braddon Cloven Foot iv. 96 I thought he despised ballet-dancing. Yet this is the third time I have seen him looking on at this rot.
1889 tr. R. Shilleto New Triposes in C. Whibley In Cap & Gown 228 Your Natural-rot, your Moral-bosh.
1894 G. Moore Esther Waters xxxix. 302 All bloody rot; who says I'm drunk?
1914 G. B. Shaw Fanny's Last Play Induct., in Misalliance 158 I quite agree that harlequinades are rot.
a1953 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.
1990 R. Clay Only Angels Forget vi. 78 I insisted on a church wedding. Mother said, ‘What rot, Isobel, you don't believe in any of that’, which was true but irrelevant.
2004 A. Hollinghurst Line of Beauty iii. 78 He talked a lot of rot at dinner on... the coloured question.
Phrases
P1. the rot sets in (also begins, etc.).
a. Cricket. A rapid breakdown or fall of wickets takes place during an innings. Hence in other sports: a slump in performance or scoring occurs.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > batting > [noun] > batting collapse
the rot sets in (also begins, etc.)1868
procession1891
1868 John Lillywhite's Cricketers' Compan. (ed. 24) 61 A terrible ‘rot’ set in at the commencement of their second ‘venture’.
1884 James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Ann. ii. ii. 64 After this came the ‘rot’, and the total only reached 118.
1903 Amer. Druggist & Pharmaceut. Rec. 28 Dec. 378/1 When the rot set in the whole [bowling] team went to pieces.
1955 Times 6 June 3/1 The rot began when Appleyard came into the attack.
1957 Times 23 July 3/1 Then the rot set in. His service broken, Wilson found himself 2—3 down in the next set.
1981 Times 18 Dec. 20/4 Rick Darling and Wood took the score to 106 before the rot set in.
b. gen. A marked decline (in resources, standards, behaviour, etc.) occurs.
ΚΠ
1906 Rev. of Reviews Apr. 361/1 From thence the rot set in, until..the average man had arrived..at Goldfinch's final state of morbid suspicion of every article of the Christian creed.
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.
1973 M. Woodhouse Blue Bone ii. 12 I went up to London..and that, as the saying goes, is where the rot set in.
2001 House Mag. 5 Nov. 28/3 The rot seemed to set in at Westminster shortly before the 1997 election.
P2. to stop the rot.
a. Cricket. To put an end to a rapid breakdown or fall of wickets. Hence in other sports: to end a slump in performance or scoring.
ΚΠ
1888 Pauline July 680/2 Davidson, who was down on the list to go in last, was sent in to stop the ‘rot’.
1903 Times 18 July 14/3 Half the side was out for 44 runs. Mr. Lawton, Else, and Warren managed to stop the rot.
1911 Times 26 Apr. 16/6 A beautiful pitch at the 7th did something to ‘stop the rot’.
1997 Escape Mar.–Apr. 78/2 ‘We've got to stop the rot here,’ says Ron [Atkinson], ‘that's five defeats on the trot.’
b. gen. To end a decline (in resources, standards, behaviour, etc.).
ΚΠ
1894 National Rev. Nov. 293 Mr. Elliot Lees has been a very capable [Parliamentary] candidate, and he may be able 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.
2000 I. Pattison Stranger here Myself (2001) ix. 289 It's not that group is worthless, it's not, it's valuable, it can truly stop the rot and turn lives around.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
a.
rot disease n.
ΚΠ
1857 Trans. Agric. Soc. Michigan 8 584 The latter [sc. Black Meshanock] are not subject to the rot disease.
1935 Fortune Aug. 45/2 Tests made by the University of Illinois proved that the inoculant helped to prevent rot disease.
2000 Florida Times-Union (Nexis) 13 May Don't buy a plant that looks wilted, as these may be suffering from a rot disease.
rot epidemic n. rare
ΚΠ
1864 T. S. Cobbold Entozoa 172 The rot epidemic of 1824.
1907 25th Ann. Rep. N.Y. Agric. Exper. Station 1906 174 The remaining ten acres were dug later, after the rot epidemic.
b.
rot-proof adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > types of material generally > [adjective] > other types
statuable1636
statutablea1661
rot-proof1849
commercialc1865
machinable1897
anechoic1956
1849 W. V. Pickett (title) New forms in architecture for iron, slate slab, hollow brick pottery, fire and rot-proof timber.
1884 Internat. Health Exhib. Official Catal. 90/1 Rotproof Non-poisonous Wall Linings.
1959 Listener 5 Mar. 435/1 They [sc. the fabrics] are rot-proof and fade-proof.
1997 New Scientist 20 Dec. 39/2 Made of ‘woodcrete’, a rot-proof mixture of pine sawdust, burnt clay and concrete.., these wildlife refuges are warmer than wooden houses.
rot-proofed adj.
ΚΠ
1884 Internat. Health Exhib. Official Catal. 104/2 Hammock Awnings, comprising also Rotproofed specimens.
1955 Jrnl. Ecol. 43 466 The bags were made up of hessian which was not rot-proofed.
1999 Funeral Service Jrnl. Jan. 104/1 (advt.) Cotton webbing lowering tapes, rotproofed, 28 ft long.
rot-stricken adj.
ΚΠ
1897 Month June 638 One who..had allowed human beings to perish like rot-stricken sheep.
1907 ‘L. Malet’ Far Horizon xxxv. 345 Yesterday and to-day they have played like a row of wooden ninepins, of straw-stuffed scarecrows, of rot-stricken idiots!
C2. † rotbean n. Obsolete rare a West Indian tree, probably the jatoba, Hymenaea courbaril, which is a leguminous tree with seed pods that have an unpleasant odour on ripening; (also) the edible seeds of this tree.
ΚΠ
1716 Petiveriana i. 180 Barbadoes Rot-bean,..Jetaiba Barbad. lobis minoribus.
1779 P. D. Giseke Index Linnæanus in L. Plukenetii Opera Botanica 30 Qu. whither my Rotbean from Barbados be the fruit call'd Quendam by the Negros.
rot-grass n. British regional (now rare) any of several plants supposed to cause rot in sheep; esp. butterwort, Pinguicula vulgaris.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants perceived as weeds or harmful plants > poisonous or harmful plants > [noun] > unidentified or unspecified plant
oxbane1585
Samnitis1590
rot-grass1631
burn-cow1658
fish-poison1802
sheep-rot1808
vomit-grass1808
1631 S. Jerome Arraignem. Whole Creature ix. 69 They are as rot grasse to sheepe.
1775 J. Anderson Ess. Agric. (ed. 2) II. 66 The Yorkshire sanicle is usually esteemed a poison for sheep; on which account it has obtained its vulgar name rot-grass.
1794 W. Hutchinson Hist. Cumberland I. App. 39 Pinguicula vulgaris, Rot-grass, supposed highly injurious to sheep, on moist grounds.
1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm I. 350 Melica cœrulea,..fly-bent or rot-grass.
1870 Notes & Queries 26 Mar. 329/2 The second [sc. butterwort] is called in Moray rot-grass, and on the Eastern Border district sheep-rot.
rot-heap n. a heap of vegetable matter left to rot as part of its processing or as compost.
ΚΠ
1747 R. Campbell London Tradesman lxiii. 268 It is then taken out of the Steep and laid in the rot Heap until it begins to put forth a Spire at one End.
1812 E. Sang Nicol's Planter's Kalendar Feb. 239 This is now a proper season for sowing several sorts of tree seeds, especially such as have been left in the rot heap since the preceding autumn.
1881 E. A. Ormerod Man. Injurious Insects 43 Burning the infested old cabbage-stocks.., instead of throwing them into rot-heaps.
1915 Iowa Homestead (Des Moines) 15 July 4/3 In too many cases labor is spent on what is nothing more nor less than rot heaps.
1993 Weekly Times (Melbourne) (Nexis) 20 Jan. (heading) Pot of gold in rot heap.
rot-steep n. now rare the process or action of soaking cloth in water or a solution of alkali in order to remove the sizing; the solution used for this purpose.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > treating or processing textile fabric > [noun] > other processes
starching1390
drawing1579
lapper1732
animalization1783
gassing1822
stuff-presser1831
rot-steep1835
plating1843
oversizing1882
Schreinering1905
Schreinerizing1906
potting1920
tie-dye1926
ikat1931
pre-boarding1940
permanent press1944
stentering1946
1835 T. Thomson in Rec. Gen. Sci. 1 165 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 Pract. Handbk. Dyeing 45 The ‘rot steep’, so called because the flour or size with which the goods were impregnated was formerly allowed to ferment and putrefy.
1918 C. D. Dominge & W. O. Lincoln Fire Insurance Inspection & Underwriting 384 Rot-steep, an alkaline lye used to remove the sizing on calico cloth before it is printed.
rotstone n. chiefly Scottish (now historical) = rottenstone n.In quot. 1890 figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > polishing > [noun] > polish > types of
pumice1422
emery1481
foam of copperas1538
pumex1589
emery-stone1610
smiris1610
putty1663
rottenstone1677
tutty1731
French rouge?1745
rotstone1767
plate powder1786
emery-powder18..
rouge1808
waxing1825
black lead1830
tin-putty1839
red stuff1844
stove-polish1858
crocusa1861
crocus-powder1873
furniture cream1873
grit-emery1884
silver polish1895
Ronuk1896
Brasso1905
floor polish1907
lavender cream1926
lavender polish1961
lavender wax1970
1767 H. Robertson Young Ladies School of Arts (ed. 2) i. 12 A shell which hath a smooth surface, and a natural dull polish, need only be rubb'd with the hand, or with a piece of shammoy leather with some tripoli or rot-stone.
1819 W. Scott Legend of Montrose vi, in Tales of my Landlord 3rd Ser. III. 262 The soldier, who was..burnishing his corslet with rot-stone and shamois-leather.
1890 J. H. Stirling Philos. & Theol. xii. 239 To show..on what mere rot-stone a literary taste might be founded.
2006 U. A. Robertson in S. Storrier Sc. Life & Soc. xvii. 317 The windows were washed and dried, or merely dusted, then polished with whiting or rotstone which was also used on mirrors.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
rotn.2
/rɒt/, U.S. /rɑt/ Now historical.
A file or small detachment (of soldiers). Cf. rat n.5 and rotmaster n.A rot usually contained six men.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military operations > distribution of troops > formation > [noun] > line > file
file1598
string1627
rot1632
rat1646
counter-file1653
1632 tr. Swedish Discipline iii. 79 Reckoning 6. men to every Rott or File.
1637 R. Monro Abridgem. Exerc. in Exped. Scots Regim. ii. 183 There must be nine Rots of Pikemen, which have the Right hand, and twelve Rots of Musketiers on the left hand.
a1686 J. Gordon Hist. Scots Affairs (1841) III. 230 His [sc. Doctor Sibbald's] papers wer brought by ane rott of muskateirs at command of the committe out of his own house.
1754 A. Berthelson Eng. & Danish Dict. at Rot A rot of Soldiers.
1821 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Oct. 306 The Lord Provost presided, a band of music attended and the worthy town-rots (soldiers of the City-Guard) attended outside the door, and at every toast fired a volley.
1899 J. W. Fortescue Hist. Brit. Army I. vi. 181 First he [sc. Gustavus Adolphus] made the companies of uniform strength, one hundred and twenty-six men, distributed into twenty-one rots or files, and six corporalships.
1991 R. Brzezinski & R. Hook Army Gustavus Adolphus: Infantry 15 A further 16 rots of ‘surplus’ musketeers (96 men) provided a reserve or could be detached for other duties.
1999 S. Reid & G. Turner Scots Armies of Eng. Civil Wars 16 (caption) The large blocks consist of ‘36 rotts’—files—of pikemen.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† rotadj.
Obsolete.
Rotten; decayed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > condition of matter > bad condition of matter > [adjective] > rotten or putrefied
forrottedc897
foulOE
rotted?c1225
rottena1250
corruptc1380
enraged1398
putrefieda1413
purulent?a1425
putrid?a1425
ranka1425
rottenly1435
corrupped1533
corruptious1559
attainted1573
rot1573
putrefacted1574
baggage1576
tainted1577
pourryc1580
corruptive1593
putrilaginous1598
putrefactious1609
taint1620
putid1660
rottenish1691
septic1746
corrupted1807
mullocky1839
rotty1872
seething1875
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > corruption or putridness > [adjective] > corrupt or putrid
rottingeOE
foulOE
rotted?c1225
rottena1250
corruptc1380
putrefieda1413
putrid?a1425
ranka1425
rottenly1435
pourryc1450
moskin1531
corrupped1533
corrupting1567
attainted1573
rot1573
putrefacted1574
baggage1576
tainted1577
pury1602
putrefactious1609
putrefactive1610
taint1620
putrescent1624
festerous1628
putid1660
scandalous1676
rottenish1691
putrefying1746–7
septic1746
corrupted1807
decomposing1833
decomposed1846
seething1875
1573 R. Curteys Serm. preached at Grenewiche sig. C.vij They will hord vp their corne and wares, vntill the poorer sort hath sold, and then sell it at their own price, or keepe it vntill it be rotte.
1585 A. Munday tr. L. Pasqualigo Fedele & Fortunio i. ii. sig. B.iijv Why doo I languish for the flower I see? Whose root is rot, when all the leaues be green.
1598 Bp. J. Hall Virgidemiarum: 3 Last Bks. iv. iv. 34 Byting on Annis-seede, and Rose-marine, Which might the Fume of his rot lungs refine.
1620 ‘Kinde Kit of Kingstone’ Westward for Smelts sig. B3v Her teeth were rot, Her tongue was not.
1631 S. Jerome Arraignem. Whole Creature xiv. §1. 235 Those things..are as rot as our Irish bogs, or English Quagmires.
1663 Forbes Baron Court Bk. in Publ. Sc. Hist. Soc. (1919) 2nd Ser. 19 243 He did cut for his maisteres ws..ane hundreth tyme of rot tres..and..a number of grethstinges.
1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry (1721) I. 189 A good quantity of..well-rot Dung and Earth mixt together.
a1802 T. Dermody Harp of Erin (1807) II. 274 They'd eat ev'n grass (and rot sticks!) Like Nebuchadnezzar.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
rotv.
/rɒt/, U.S. /rɑt/α. Old English rotian, Middle English roote, Middle English rootte, Middle English rootye, Middle English rotee, Middle English rotenn ( Ormulum), Middle English roti, Middle English rotie, Middle English roty, Middle English rotye, Middle English royt, Middle English royte, Middle English–1500s root, Middle English–1500s rote, late Middle English roten (past participle), 1500s roat; Scottish pre-1700 rote.
β. late Middle English rotty, late Middle English–1600s rotte, late Middle English– rot, 1500s–1600s 1800s– rotten (past participle, now regional and nonstandard), 1600s rott, 1700s rot (past participle, rare); Scottish pre-1700 rot (past tense), pre-1700 rott, pre-1700 rottin (past participle), pre-1700 rottyn (past participle), pre-1700 1700s– rot.
1.
a. intransitive. Of the dead body, flesh, or bones of a person or animal: to undergo natural decomposition, typically by the action of bacteria and other microorganisms; to decay; to putrefy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > corruption or putridness > become corrupt or putrid [verb (intransitive)]
forrota900
foulOE
rotOE
rank?a1300
corrumpc1374
to-rota1382
putrefya1400
mourkenc1400
corruptc1405
festerc1475
decay1574
rankle1612
tainta1616
decompose1793
wrox1847
the world > matter > condition of matter > bad condition of matter > deteriorate in condition [verb (intransitive)] > rot or putrefy
forrota900
foulOE
rotOE
rank?a1300
corrumpc1374
to-rota1382
putrefya1400
mourkenc1400
corruptc1405
festerc1475
rottena1500
decay1574
rankle1612
tainta1616
moth1624
ret1846
wrox1847
OE Byrhtferð Enchiridion (Ashm.) (1995) i. i. 16 Mid þam [sc. myrran] man smyrað ricra manna lic þæt hig rotian ne magon.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 183 (MED) For þine gulte ishal nu to pine; rotie mote þu to time.
a1275 Body & Soul (Trin. Cambr. B.14.39) l. 120 in A. S. M. Clark Seint Maregrete & Body & Soul (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Michigan) (1972) 142 Þus a departet..þe bodi in to herþe þat it roties [a1350 Harl. 2253 rotieþ].
a1300 in R. Morris Old Eng. Misc. (1872) 92 Boþe him schal rotye þat body and þe bon.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 363 Þere is an ilond þere no dede body may roty [v.r. rootye; ?a1475 anon. tr. be putrefiede; L. putrescere].
c1470 tr. R. D'Argenteuil's French Bible (Cleveland) (1977) 44 (MED) God defendid hem that thei shuld not touche ne ete of the apples, and seid if thei ete therof, thei shuld dye and rotte.
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Acts ii. f. 9v Although his bodye was laid in graue voyde of all lyfe, yet ther it did not rotte or putrify.
1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet v. i. 159 How long will a man lie in the ground before hee rots?
1670 in W. G. Scott-Moncrieff Rec. Proc. Justiciary Court Edinb. (1905) II. 16 And William Bruce's body to be thereafter hung in chains till the same rott.
1698 W. King Journey to London 33 As Meat rots, it becomes more Urinous and Salt.
1737 Gentleman's Mag. Feb. 117/2 The rest are stark dead, and may rot when they list.
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. iv. 212 Where he left his brother's bones to rot.
1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby lxii. 607 Throw me on a dunghill, and let me rot there, to infect the air!
1887 W. Morris tr. Homer Odyssey I. xii. 216 Dead men, rotting to nothing.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 247/2 Possibly the flesh was boiled off the bones at once.., or left to rot in separate cists awhile.
1979 N. Farah Sweet & Sour Milk viii. 126 The man's body will rot under lime.
1999 Independent 6 Apr. i. 9/2 Excarnation—the practice of exposing bodies so that the flesh rotted more quickly and the spirit was thus speeded on its way.
b. intransitive. Of plants or plant products (timber, fruit, etc.): to undergo decomposition (as a natural process or as a result of disease); to decay. Also in extended use (of other types of material, manufactured objects, etc.): to undergo dissolution or disintegration; to corrode or rust; to deteriorate.
ΚΠ
eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) xxii. 171 Of ðæm treowe sethim, ðæt næfre ne rotað [L. imputribilia ligna].
OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Exod. (Claud.) xvi. 24 Hit [sc. the manna] ne rotode, ne hi ne fundon nan ðingc fules ðæron.
a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 91 (MED) Hier is igadered swilch timber ðe næure rotien ne mai.
c1300 Ministry & Passion of Christ (Laud) (1873) 564 (MED) Þe corn of ȝwete beo ded þat is on eorþe ido..Ake ȝif þat hit ded is, þat is ȝif it rotuth and chineth, muche fruyt it bringez iwis.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 3342 It [sc. the manna] wirme[s] [MS wirmede] bredde and rotede ðor.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Isa. xl. 20 The stronge tree, and the vnable to roten [L. imputribile] ches the wise craftes man.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 23893 (MED) All behouis vs yeild..A-cont efter þat we ha tan..þat þat besaunt rote [Coll. Phys. root] noght in hord, þat agh be spend in werc and word.
?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 5 Cedre may noȝt rote in erthe ne in water.
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll.) 993 She lete make a coverynge..of clothe of sylke that sholde never rotte for no manner of wedir.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 694/1 This peare wyll rotte if you eate it nat betyme.
1581 R. Mulcaster Positions vi. 41 Like corne not reaped, but suffered to rotte by negligence of the owner.
1630 tr. G. Botero Relations Famous Kingdomes World (rev. ed.) 540 Yet..the Grasse groweth at least one yard high, and rotteth..upon the ground.
1687 A. Lovell tr. J. de Thévenot Trav. into Levant i. 136 Sycamore-Wood..that does not rot so soon as other Wood.
1726 G. Leoni tr. L. B. Alberti Architecture I. 34/1 There will be some small unconcocted Stones in it, which afterwards coming to rot, throw out little Pustules.
1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. iv. 157 Several of her casks had rotted.
1805 R. Parkinson Tour. in Amer. II. xix. 357 By laying it [sc. the flax] on the ground, to make the outer skin divide from the bun; which makes it to rot in some parts before it divides from the bun in others.
1875 J. Saunders Lion in Path I. i. 9 Still year after year the fruit has rotted and dropped.
1943 E. Muir Narrow Place 14 The red fruit hung ripe upon the bough And fell at last and rotted where it fell.
1955 R. M. Pearl How to know Minerals & Rocks 96 Garnet is one of a number of minerals which occur in chlorite and alter to it; many of the big crystals..have ‘rotted’ to chlorite almost all the way through.
2009 New Yorker 19 Jan. 76/3 Ferns and cycads budded, died, and rotted, adding another inch of peat to the swamp floor every forty years or so.
c. intransitive. Of a wound, part of the body, etc.: to become septic, necrotic, or gangrenous; †to suppurate (obsolete). In early use also (of the humours or fluids of the body): †to decompose, to putrefy (obsolete).
ΚΠ
eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) xxi. 153 Swa se læce, ðonne he on untiman lacnað wunde, hio wyrmseð & rotað [L. secta immature vulnera deterius infervescunt].
eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) ii. li. 264 Manegum men lungen rotað.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 4773 He warrþ all..Full hefiȝlike secnedd. Swa swiþe þatt hiss bodiȝ toc To rotenn bufenn eorþe.
?a1200 (?OE) Peri Didaxeon (1896) 21 Þa ufe wæte of þan heafod fylþ uppan þa teþ..and deþ, þæt hy rotiȝeþ.
c1390 (c1300) MS Vernon Homilies in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1877) 57 298 (MED) So faste bi gon his foot to rote, þat..mihte he do no note.
?c1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Paris) (1971) 78 (MED) The vnnatural humours..ben resolued somtyme insensibly..and sometyme þai rote withyn and maken feueres.
c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 125 Þanne fell on his fote a maladye, þat it rotyd.
1526 R. Whitford tr. Martiloge 76 Of some theyr tongues rotted, & of some the eyes stert out of theyr hedes.
1637 S. Rutherford Lett. (1863) I. lxxxviii. 227 Let their eyes rot in their eye-holes, who will not receive Him home again.
1752 Tryal Mary Blandy 36 He..thought he had taken it [sc. poison] often, because his Teeth rotted faster than usual.
1824 Med. Adviser 1 383/2 In less than a week after she was sent to the lunatic asylum, her feet rotted, and both fell off at the ancle joints!
1876 J. B. L. Warren Soldier of Fortune v. i. 383 Though the man Wither, and though his hand rot off the wrist.
1984 T. M. Ager tr. W. Ager Sons of Old Country 155 A Norwegian in the camp had frozen a foot, and gangrene had set in; it turned black and the toes rotted and became just like black claws.
2004 B. Swerling Shadowbrook (2005) 296 There was a tale that it had taken a long time to heal, because the wound rotted and was starting to turn black.
d. intransitive. With away, off, or out: to be destroyed or consumed by rotting.
ΚΠ
c1450 Alphabet of Tales (1904) I. 64 (MED) Þer happend a surans for to fall in hys lymbe, þat his fute rotid off.
a1475 Sidrak & Bokkus (Lansd.) (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Washington) (1965) 4909 (MED) For þe body rooteth away.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Richard III f. xxviij Myles Forest, at sainct Martyns le graunde by pece meale miserably rotted awaye.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) iv. iii. 63 Thy lips rot off. View more context for this quotation
1668 N. Culpeper & A. Cole tr. T. Bartholin Anat. (new ed.) iii. ix. 149 Some Scythians, whose earlets ar mortified and rotted of with cold.
1678 J. Newey in S. Ford Disc. conc. Gods Judgments title page Narrative concerning the Man whose Hands and Legs lately Rotted off in the..Parish of Kingswinford.
1706 Serious Admon. Youth ii. 20 The like Instance might be given of a Man some Years since Executed at Dorchester, whose Legs rotted off during the time of his Confinement.
1749 B. Franklin Proposals Educ. Youth Pensilvania in Papers (1961) III. 416 [He will] not let the healthy and stout Bodies of young Men rot away under him for want of this Discipline.
1771 S. Neville Diary 1 Oct. (1950) vi. 126 May my right hand rot off if I have..done anything bad by you.
1827 J. Bentham Rationale Judicial Evid. I. ii. vi. 398 Say, you wish your tongue may rot off..if you ever saw any such thing.
1849 C. Lyell 2nd Visit U.S. II. 137 Some of the trunks must have rotted away to the level of the ground.
1913 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 63/1 These stumps rot out after a few years' cultivation.
1944 G. Grigson Wild Flowers in Brit. 18 [Orpine] stays on when the cob walls of the cottage have washed away to the ground and the last apple tree has rotted out.
1991 Pract. Gardening Dec. 57/2 Putting the seeds in sand for a while until the pulp rots off.
2005 Scootering June 27/2 It was just one of four or five scooters sitting around, doing nothing but rotting away.
2. figurative.
a. intransitive. To decline or decay, esp. morally or socially; to diminish towards extinction, go to waste; (also formerly) †to perish. Also with adverbs.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > moral or spiritual degeneration > degenerate [verb (intransitive)] > become corrupt
rot?c1225
pervertc1475
putrefya1500
corrupt1598
gangrene1618
deprave1655
stink1934
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 67 Walde he seggen uuel bi nan oþer bute bi þeo þe rotieð [a1400 Pepys roten]. & stinkeð al inhare sunne.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Jer. xiii. 9 Þus to roten I shal maken þe pride of Juda & þe myche pride of ierusalem.
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. vi. 151 (MED) Fisshes..Deyen for drouthe whenne þei dryen liggen; Ryght so religion roteþ and sterueth, Þat out of couent and cloistre coueyteþ to dwelle.
1460–1 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI (Electronic ed.) Parl. Oct. 1460 §16. m. 3 Though right for a tyme rest..yit it roteth not ner shall not perissh.
a1500 (?c1414) Paraphr. Seven Penitential Psalms 8 (MED) My synne..I kepe..clos for schame or fere; Thanne waxe thei olde, and done me dere; I rote as dooth a bowe on tre.
1594 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. II. 271 If wee staye and as it were rotte in these base, brutish and supposed pleasures.
1657 N. Billingsley Brachy-martyrologia sig. A8v What do they leave but Monuments of shame? Their works shall rot.
1699 T. Edwards Paraselene dismantled of her Cloud 209/3 Let that Opinion, that the Graces of Saints are fading and moral, rot and die, and be had in everlasting Detestation of them that know the Lord.
1712 M. Henry Serm. Death Mrs. K. Henry 21 It is true of Prayer what we say of Winter, that it never rots in the Skies.
1761 tr. C. Batteux Course Belles Lettres III. iv. ii. v. 177 Is it to rail, to tell an empty sot, His trance will fail him, and his writings rot?
1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Alice II. vi. v. 269 Take the history of any civilized state..before she rotted back into second childhood.
1871 J. R. Lowell My 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.
1978 I. Berlin Russian Thinkers 64 Both Maistre and Tolstoy regard the western world as in some sense ‘rotting’, as being in rapid decay.
2006 J. Sarangi & G. S. Jha Indian Imagination of Jayanta Mahapatra 24 Poetry..can leave no impact on the world that has rotten beyond remedy or redemption.
2008 Western Morning News (Plymouth) (Nexis) 28 Nov. 5 It's simply a look at the way American society is rotting—but it could be any society.
b. transitive. To cause to decline or decay. Also with adverbs.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > reduce in quantity, amount, or degree [verb (transitive)] > cause to decline or fall off
withdrawc1450
decay1550
rot1567
1567 Triall of Treasure sig. Civv The Ruler of all Rulers will..rote their remembraunce of from the grounde.
1579 L. Tomson tr. J. Calvin Serm. Epist. S. Paule to Timothie & Titus 116/2 We shall see these vermine that seeke nothing else but to rotte or venime the Church of God.
1629 J. Ford Lovers Melancholy i. 8 Why should not I..snarle at the vices Which rot the Land.
1662 Duchess of Newcastle Lady Contemplation ii. i. iii, in Playes Written 214 No false Doctrine can corrupt or rot the other.
1848 E. Bulwer-Lytton Harold II. ix. ii. 302 Better that we had rotted out our lives in exile.
1871 T. Carlyle in Daily News 4 Jan. This I lay at the door of our spiritual teachers.., who thereby incalculably rot the world.
1912 J. 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.’
1987 A. Miller Timebends iii. 179 I thought the theatre a temple being rotted out with commercialized junk.
2002 Daily Tel. 8 Apr. 34/6 The UK's long flirtation with socialist collectivism had rotted the supply-side.
3. intransitive. Of a person: to suffer from a chronic infection or wasting disease, esp. as the result of imprisonment. Frequently in extended use: to languish (in a place).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > diseases of tissue > wasting disease > have wasting disease [verb (intransitive)]
dwinec1000
shrinkc1000
swindOE
wastea1300
pinea1325
rot1340
tapishc1375
wastea1387
consume1495
decaya1538
winder1600
pule1607
moch1818
to run down1826
tabefy1891
the world > action or operation > inaction > disinclination to act or listlessness > be listless or lethargic [verb (intransitive)] > languish
languisha1616
rot1927
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 32 (MED) Þe ilke anlikneþ þane ssrewe þet heþ leuere rotye in a prison..þanne..to cliue uor his outguoinge.
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xiv. 22 (MED) 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.
1571 E. Grant tr. Plutarch President for Parentes sig. G.vii He was inforced in prisone, fettered in bondes and chaines, a long time to rotte and pine away, and payd the price for his vntymely loquacitie.
1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. xxvii. 510 If I in the meane whyle do rotte there [i.e. in prison].
1652 J. Gaule Πυς-μαντια 371 Alexander a pseudomantist,..rotted lothsomely, and so died miserably eaten up of worms.
1655 R. Fanshawe tr. L. de Camoens Lusiad viii. 172 The Malabar protests, that he shall rot In prison, if he send not for the Ships.
1692 Covenant of Grace 11 I might use extremity towards you, cast you into Prison, and there let you Rot.
1732 B. Franklin Writings (1987) 202 One only inexorable..threw him into Prison, absolutely resolved there to let him rot.
1758 S. Johnson Idler 16 Sept. 185 Some will confess their resolution, that their Debtors shall rot in jail.
1792 T. Holcroft Road to Ruin 54 The unnatural father can coolly think of turning him on the wide pitiless world; there to..rot in dungeons.
1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) xxi. 215 It was no figure of speech to say that debtors rotted in prison.
1888 A. 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.
1978 I. B. Singer Shosha ii. 39 I asked for Dora and he replied ‘Rotting in Siberia’.
1994 Times 21 Jan. 3/3 I only wish that the brutes that did this rot in hell.
4.
a. transitive. = ret v.2 1. Cf. rotting n. 2, water rot v. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > treating or processing textile materials > treating or processing flax, hemp, or jute > treat or process flax, hemp, or jute [verb (transitive)] > ret
reta1325
rota1400
pit-rot1808
society > occupation and work > industry > working with specific materials > working with other materials > work with other materials [verb (transitive)] > processes in working with flax or hemp
reta1325
rot1670
water ret1766
dike1799
water rot1843
a1400 Gloss. W. de Bibbesworth (Paris) (1929) 417 (MED) Rote it [v.rr. reete hit, rekke hit; glossing Fr. la rehaez].
1670 D. Cable tr. B. Valentinus Of Nat. & Supernatural Things vii. 118 This Flax cannot be used and prepared for any work profitably, except it be first putrefied and rotted in water [Ger. es sey denn daß solcher Flachs anfänglich durch das Wasser erfäulet und putrificirt wird].]
1765 C. Hanbury & O. Hanbury Let. 20 Nov. in G. Washington Papers (1990) VII. 413 That [sc. flax] wch is rotted in clear Water will sell much better then either Snow or dew rotted the collour of both the latter being bad.
1811 Weekly Reg. (Baltimore) 5 Oct. 86/1 (heading) Process for rotting hemp.
1845 Encycl. Metrop. VIII. 702/1 The operation of rotting, or as it is most commonly called, water-retting, flax and hemp.
1926 T. F. Hunt & C. W. Burkett Soils & Crops xliii. 474 When rotted or retted by dews or rains the fiber is gray and somewhat harsh.
b. transitive. To cause to decompose or decay. Also reflexive (now rare).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > corruption or putridness > make corrupt or putrid [verb (transitive)]
corrump1340
corruptc1384
putrefya1400
fadec1400
rotc1405
corrup1483
rotten1569
attaint1573
carrionize1593
putrefact1598
ranken1599
decay1626
wrox1649
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > corruption or putridness > become corrupt or putrid [verb (reflexive)]
rotc1405
the world > matter > condition of matter > bad condition of matter > cause bad condition in [verb (transitive)] > cause to rot or putrefy
corrump1340
corruptc1384
putrefya1400
fadec1400
rotc1405
rotten1569
carrionize1593
putrefact1598
ranken1599
decay1626
wrox1649
ret1846
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Cook's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 43 Wel bet is roten Appul out of hoord Than þt it rotte [v.rr. rotes, rotet] al the remenaunt.
?a1425 MS Hunterian 95 f. 128v (MED) Partie of þe mater þat is corupte helpeþ to rotte þe partie þat is not matured.
a1450 Late Middle Eng. Treat. on Horses (1978) 133 (MED) Þe water wol rote þe senwe if it ney it ouȝt.
1540 in Bk. Old Edinb. Club XV. 12 In the halding and feding geis in the chalmers of the land pertening to hir..and thairthrow hes rottin the samyn in ane part thairof.
1557 T. North tr. A. de Guevara Diall Princes 442 Let an apple have never so little a broose, that broose is ynough to rotte him quickely.
1572 J. Bossewell Wks. Armorie ii. f. 118 Her dung is poyson to the Hauke, and rotteth her fethers.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) i. iv. 47 This common bodie..Goes too, and backe,..To rot it selfe with motion. View more context for this quotation
1672 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd i. 132 A Dart, that where it does but draw blood, rots the person immediately to pieces.
1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Compl. Gard'ner i. ii. xxiii. 57 In case the Earth which wants to be amended or improv'd, is naturally dry and sandy, fat Dung must be imploy'd, for Example..Horse-dung, which shall have been rotten in a Morish Place.
1726 G. Leoni tr. L. B. Alberti Architecture I. 58/1 To keep the mortar from rotting the Timber.
1733 J. Tull Horse-hoing Husbandry xiii. 68 It is long continual Rains that Rot or Chill the Blossoms.
1772 T. Simpson Compl. Vermin-killer Introd. The rain forces its way through, and rots the underwork [of the thatch].
1889 Internat. Ann. Anthonys Photogr. Bull. 241 It is necessary to rot or sweat ink after it is ground from ten to twenty-four hours.
1910 Proc. Engineers' Club Philadelphia 27 244 One of the dredges has been converted into what Kipling calls a ‘crawling cargo tank’, and the other is rotting itself to pieces in idleness.
1975 Gen. Syst. 20 113/1 Trobriand Islanders grew surplus yams, rotting them to glorify their headmen.
2006 M. I. Santiago Ecol. Oil i. 32 Hurricane season then threatened to rot the ripened corn if the family failed to harvest it on time.
5.
a. transitive. To cause (a sheep) to develop rot (hepatic fascioliasis). Now rare.In quot. a1500 intransitive (with pasture as subject).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of sheep > cause disorder of sheep [verb (transitive)] > rot
rota1500
a1500 (?c1378) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 408 (MED) A curat shulde preche to þe puple treuþis of goddis lawe þat euere ben grene, for þanne he lediþ his sheep wel in hool pasture þat wole not rote.
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xxiiii It is necessary that a shepherde shulde knowe what thyng rote shepe.
1550 T. Cranmer Def. Sacrament Pref. sig. *iij Thankes be to God many corrupt weedes bee plucked vppe, whiche were wont to rotte the flocke of Christ, and to let the growyng of the Lordes haruest.
1594 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus iv. iv. 93 More dangerous Then baites to fish, or honniestalkes to sheepe, When as the one is wounded with the bait, The other rotted with delicious feede [printed seede] . View more context for this quotation
1656 R. Vines Treat. Lords-supper (1677) 221 No shepherd would call his sheep into such pastures as will certainly rot them.
1684 T. Tryon Country-man's Compan. i. 3 The Grass will bring upon them [sc. Horses] little or no Inconveniency, though..the same Grass and Pasturage will rot Sheep.
1725 A. Ramsay Gentle Shepherd i. ii. 13 Blashy Thows..may rot your Ews.
1794 Trans. Soc. Arts 12 235 Produce of the land..very rushy,..and always rotted sheep.
1854 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 15 i. 234 Apparently sound pastures..have rotted sheep this Season.
1902 P. McConnell Elements Agric. Geol. vi. 181 At Grindon, in Staffordshire, this particular soil—undrained—rots the sheep badly.
b. intransitive. Of a sheep: to become affected with rot (hepatic fascioliasis). Now historical and rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of sheep > of sheep: have disorder [verb (intransitive)] > rot
rot?1523
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xxiiiiv They [sc. pasture-sheep] syldome rote but with myldewes.
1596 J. Harington New Disc. Aiax Prol. sig. Aviijv The poor sheep..would eate him without salt (as they say) but if they do, they will soone after rot with it.
1638 J. Milton Lycidas in Obsequies 23 in Justa Edouardo King The hungry sheep..Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread.
1683 T. Tryon Way to Health 88 Over-wet Weather will corrupt them, and cause them to Rot in moist low Grounds.
1723 Proposals Improvem. Common & Waste-lands 11 It may be computed, that double the Number of Sheep rot and die there.
1769 G. White Jrnl. 1 Mar. (1970) ii. 13 Sheep rot in a most terrible manner in the low grounds.
1861 Farmer's Mag. 19 489/2 On Broughton Marsh, Hants, before its inclosure, sheep rotted in summer.
2003 M. Shrubb Birds, Scythes & Combines vi. 136 Young noted that 40000 sheep rotted in East, West and Wildmoor Fens in Lincolnshire in 1793.
6. transitive. In imprecations or expressions of irritation or impatience, chiefly in optative subjunctive. See also od rot it (me, them, etc.) at od n.1 and int. Phrases.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > oaths other than religious or obscene > imprecations
woeOE
dahetc1290
confoundc1330
foul (also shame) fall ——c1330
sorrow on——c1330
in the wanianda1352
wildfirea1375
evil theedomc1386
a pestilence on (also upon)c1390
woe betide you (also him, her, etc.)c1390
maldathaita1400
murrainc1400
out ona1415
in the wild waning worldc1485
vengeance?a1500
in a wanion1549
with a wanion1549
woe worth1553
a plague on——a1566
with a wanion to?c1570
with a wanyand1570
bot1584
maugre1590
poxa1592
death1593
rot1594
rot on1595
cancro1597
pax1604
pize on (also upon)1605
vild1605
peascod1606
cargo1607
confusion1608
perditiona1616
(a) pest upon1632
deuce1651
stap my vitals1697
strike me blind, dumb, lucky (if, but—)1697
stop my vitals1699
split me (or my windpipe)1700
rabbit1701
consume1756
capot me!1760
nick me!1760
weary set1788
rats1816
bad cess to1859
curse1885
hanged1887
buggeration1964
1594 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus v. i. 58 But vengeance rotte you all. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) ii. iii. 128 The South-Fog rot him. View more context for this quotation
1664 C. Cotton Scarronides 75 Where once your what shal' call'ums—(rot'um! It makes me mad I' have forgot 'um), Liv'd a great while.
1682 J. Dryden in T. Southerne Loyal Brother Prol. sig. A3 Both pretend love, and both (Plague rot 'em) hate.
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 73. ⁋2 Rot you, Sir, I have more Wit than you.
1756 S. Foote Englishman return'd from Paris ii. 36 I'll be rot if we don't make them caper higher.
1767 ‘Coriat Junior’ Another Traveller! II. 52 Rot the name of the first post! I have forgot it.
1817 J. Keats Lett. in Wks. (1889) III. 74 For, rot it! I forgot to bring my mathematical case with me.
1859 C. Dickens Tale of Two Cities ii. v. 59 ‘She was the admiration of the whole Court!’ ‘Rot the admiration of the whole Court!’
1901 F. Norris Octopus ii. vi. 509 ‘Rot the League,’ cried Annixter. ‘It's gone to pot—went to pieces at the first touch.’
1980 S. T. Hammon Death or Pregnant Virgin i. 6 Not far now to Our Lady of Promise, God rot her.
2006 Guardian (Nexis) 17 Sept. 35 God rot the lot of them! A remark that at least has the merit of being Anglo Saxon and, come to think of it, bio-degradable.
7. intransitive. North American. Of sea or river ice: to melt or thaw partially, so as to become unsound. Also transitive. Cf. rotten adj. 3c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > ice > body of ice > [verb (intransitive)] > melt (of sea or river ice)
rot1818
1818 Ann. Reg. 1817 Nat. Hist. 547/2 When the warmth of the season has rotted the bay ice, the passage to the northward can generally be accomplished with a very great saving of labour.
1820 W. Scoresby Acct. Arctic Regions 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.
1842 H. W. Herbert Sporting Scenes & Sundry Sketches I. 53 The circulaten on his blood had kind o' rotted the ice that was right next to him.
1892 [implied in: W. Pike Barren Ground N. Canada 174 The ice now began to show signs of rotting. (at rotting n. 1a)].
1905 Pall Mall Mag. Dec. 563/2 The Sun's beginning to rot the snow.
1923 F. Wild Shackleton's Last Voyage vi. 119 It is necessary..if water is being taken from this source [sc. pools of melted water on the surface of the ice] to see that the floe is a good solid one, not ‘rotted’ underneath, in which case it may be brackish.
1977 New Yorker 20 June 86/2 Ice was beginning to rot.
1995 J. Houston Confessions Igloo Dweller lxxii. 244 When ice starts to rot, water runs down through it and forms millions of thumb-sized candle shapes that are as long as the ice is deep.
8. Chiefly British School slang. Now rare.
a. transitive. To tease, torment, ‘rag’; to denigrate.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > derision, ridicule, or mockery > banter or good-humoured ridicule > banter [verb (transitive)] > banter mercilessly
roast1710
to run one's rig upon1735
rot1890
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > slander or calumny > slander or calumniate [verb (transitive)]
to say or speak shame of, on, byc950
teleeOE
sayOE
to speak evil (Old English be) ofc1000
belie?c1225
betell?c1225
missayc1225
skandera1300
disclanderc1300
wrenchc1300
bewrayc1330
bite1330
gothele1340
slanderc1340
deprave1362
hinderc1375
backbite1382
blasphemec1386
afamec1390
fame1393
to blow up?a1400
defamea1400
noise1425
to say well (also evil, ill, etc.) of (also by)1445
malignc1450
to speak villainy of1470
infame1483
injury1484
painta1522
malicea1526
denigrate1526
disfamea1533
misreporta1535
sugill?1539
dishonest?c1550
calumniate1554
scandalize1566
ill1577
blaze1579
traduce1581
misspeak1582
blot1583
abuse1592
wronga1596
infamonize1598
vilify1598
injure?a1600
forspeak1601
libel1602
infamize1605
belibel1606
calumnize1606
besquirt1611
colly1615
scandala1616
bedirt1622
soil1641
disfigurea1643
sycophant1642
spatter1645
sugillate1647
bespattera1652
bedung1655
asperse1656
mischieve1656
opprobriatea1657
reflect1661
dehonestate1663
carbonify1792
defamate1810
mouth1810
foul-mouth1822
lynch1836
rot1890
calumny1895
ding1903
bad-talk1938
norate1938
bad-mouth1941
monster1967
1890 R. C. Lehmann Harry Fludyer 106 Everybody here would have rotted me to death.
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.
1922 S. Leslie Oppidan iii. 38 A sport taking the mysterious form of ‘rotting the Flea’.
b. intransitive. to rot about: to fool about, waste time. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > inattention > mental wandering > light-mindedness > act without seriousness [verb (intransitive)]
twiddlea1547
dally1548
trifle1736
dandle1829
to rot abouta1893
flibbertigibbet1921
a1893 T. B. Reed Tom, Dick & Harry (1894) xxii. 263 He's not the sort of chap to let the Philosophers go rotting about, talking what they know nothing about.
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. Victorian Era 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.
c. intransitive. To talk nonsense; to joke. Cf. rot n.1 5.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > empty, idle talk > talk idly [verb (intransitive)]
chattera1250
drivelc1390
clatter1401
chatc1440
smattera1450
pratec1460
blaver1461
babble?1504
blether1524
boblec1530
trattlea1555
tittle-tattle1556
fable1579
tinkle1638
whiffle1706
slaver1730
doitera1790
jaunder1808
haver1816
maunder1816
blather1825
yatter1825
blat1846
bibble-babble1888
flap-doodle1893
twiddle1893
spiel1894
rot1896
blither1903
to run off at the mouth1908
drool1923
twiddle-twaddle1925
crap1940
natter1942
yack1950
yacker1961
yacket1969
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > cause laughter [verb (intransitive)] > jest or joke
gameOE
jest1553
mow1559
cog1588
to break a jest1589
droll1654
joke1670
fool1673
crack a jest1721
crack a joke1753
pleasant1848
humorize1851
rot1896
kibitz1923
gag1942
1896 E. Phillpotts in Idler Nov. 432/2 Wilson, who was an awfully sportsmanlike chap really, said he was only rotting all the time.
1914 G. B. Shaw Fanny's Last Play iii, in Misalliance 200 But I'm serious: I'm not rotting. Really and truly—.
1934 R. Macaulay Going Abroad xxx. 264 There are things one simply mustn't rot about, I feel.
9. transitive. British colloquial. To spoil or ruin (an action or plan). Also with up.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > destroy [verb (transitive)] > bring to ruin or put an end to
undoc950
shendOE
forfarea1000
endc1000
to do awayOE
aquenchc1175
slayc1175
slayc1175
stathea1200
tinea1300
to-spilla1300
batec1300
bleschea1325
honisha1325
leesea1325
wastec1325
stanch1338
corrumpa1340
destroy1340
to put awayc1350
dissolvec1374
supplanta1382
to-shend1382
aneantizec1384
avoidc1384
to put outa1398
beshenda1400
swelta1400
amortizec1405
distract1413
consumec1425
shelfc1425
abroge1427
downthringc1430
kill1435
poisonc1450
defeat1474
perish1509
to blow away1523
abrogatea1529
to prick (also turn, pitch) over the perka1529
dash?1529
to bring (also send) to (the) pot1531
put in the pot1531
wipea1538
extermine1539
fatec1540
peppera1550
disappoint1563
to put (also set) beside the saddle1563
to cut the throat of1565
to throw (also turn, etc.) over the perch1568
to make a hand of (also on, with)1569
demolish1570
to break the neck of1576
to make shipwreck of1577
spoil1578
to knock on (in) the head (also rarely at head)1579
cipher1589
ruinate1590
to cut off by the shins1592
shipwreck1599
exterminate1605
finish1611
damnify1612
ravel1614
braina1616
stagger1629
unrivet1630
consummate1634
pulverizea1640
baffle1649
devil1652
to blow up1660
feague1668
shatter1683
cook1708
to die away1748
to prove fatal (to)1759
to knock up1764
to knock (or kick) the hindsight out or off1834
to put the kibosh on1834
to cook (rarely do) one's goose1835
kibosh1841
to chaw up1843
cooper1851
to jack up1870
scuttle1888
to bugger up1891
jigger1895
torpedo1895
on the fritz1900
to put paid to1901
rot1908
down and out1916
scuppera1918
to put the skids under1918
stonker1919
liquidate1924
to screw up1933
cruel1934
to dig the grave of1934
pox1935
blow1936
to hit for six1937
to piss up1937
to dust off1938
zap1976
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.
1978 Sunday Times 15 Jan. 42/7 A turquoise velvet top (detested since I rotted up a quiz programme in it).
1999 J. Stevenson Several Deceptions (2000) iv. 214 When there's a weak link in a unit, you're a hell of a lot better keeping him under your eye where he can't rot the show, than leaving him at base to cause trouble.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
n.1int.c1384
n.21632
adj.1573v.eOE- olive-coloured
- olive-covered
- olive-green
- olive-greenish
- olive-headed
- olive-hoary
- olive-marc
- olive-pale
- olive-plucker
- olive-plum
- olive-shaded
- olive-shaped
- olive-sided flycatcher
- olive-skinned
- olive-tyrant
- oliveback
- olivebacked
- olivebacked oriole
- olivebacked thrush
- olivebit
- olivebordered
- olivecheeked
- oliveclad
- olivecolored
- olivecoloured