rot Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a state of decay usually accompanied by an offensive odor
    putrefaction.
  2. noun (biology) the process of decay caused by bacterial or fungal action
    rotting; putrefaction; decomposition.
  3. noun unacceptable behavior (especially ludicrously false statements)
    hogwash; buncombe; bunk; guff; bunkum.
  4. verb break down
    moulder; molder; decompose.
    • The bodies decomposed in the heat
  5. verb become physically weaker
    waste.
    • Political prisoners are wasting away in many prisons all over the world

WordNet

Rot intransitive verb
Etymology
OE. rotien, AS. rotian; akin to D. rotten, Prov. G. rotten, OHG. rozzn, G. rösten to steep flax, Icel. rotna to rot, Sw. ruttna, Dan. raadne, Icel. rottin rotten. Cf. Ret, Rotten.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Rotted; present participle & verbal noun Rotting
Definitions
  1. To undergo a process common to organic substances by which they lose the cohesion of their parts and pass through certain chemical changes, giving off usually in some stages of the process more or less offensive odors; to become decomposed by a natural process; to putrefy; to decay.
    Fixed like a plant on his peculiar spot, To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot. Pope.
  2. Figuratively: To perish slowly; to decay; to die; to become corrupt.
    Four of the sufferers were left to rot in irons. Macaulay.
    Rot, poor bachelor, in your club. Thackeray.
    Syn. -- To putrefy; corrupt; decay; spoil.
Rot transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To make putrid; to cause to be wholly or partially decomposed by natural processes; as, to rot vegetable fiber.
  2. To expose, as flax, to a process of maceration, etc., for the purpose of separating the fiber; to ret.
Rot noun
Definitions
  1. Process of rotting; decay; putrefaction.
  2. (Bot.) A disease or decay in fruits, leaves, or wood, supposed to be caused by minute fungi. See Bitter rot, Black rot, etc., below.
  3. Cf. G. rotz glanders. A fatal distemper which attacks sheep and sometimes other animals. It is due to the presence of a parasitic worm in the liver or gall bladder. See 1st Fluke, 2.
    His cattle must of rot and murrain die. Milton.

Webster 1913