Dry rot Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a crumbling and drying of timber or bulbs or potatoes or fruit caused by a fungus
  2. noun a fungus causing dry rot

WordNet

Definitions
  1. (Bot.) See under Dry.
Definitions
  1. a decay of timber, reducing its fibers to the condition of a dry powdery dust, often accompanied by the presence of a peculiar fungus (Merulius lacrymans), which is sometimes considered the cause of the decay; but it is more probable that the real cause is the decomposition of the wood itself. D. C. Eaton. Called also sap rot, and, in the United States, powder post. Hebert.

Webster 1913