rot

[[t]rɒ̱t[/t]]

rots, rotting, rotted

1) V-ERG When food, wood, or another substance rots, or when something rots it, it becomes softer and is gradually destroyed.

If we don't unload it soon, the grain will start rotting in the silos...

[V n] Sugary canned drinks rot your teeth.

[V-ing] ...the smell of rotting fish.

2) N-UNCOUNT If there is rot in something, especially something that is made of wood, parts of it have decayed and fallen apart.

Investigations had revealed extensive rot in the beams under the ground floor...

Neither the timber frame nor metal chassis were protected against rot.

3) N-SING: the N You can use the rot to refer to the way something gradually gets worse. For example, if you are talking about the time when the rot set in, you are talking about the time when a situation began to get steadily worse and worse.

In many schools, the rot is beginning to set in. Standards are falling all the time...

The country's leaders are unwilling to take unpopular measures to stop the rot.

4) VERB If you say that someone is being left to rot in a particular place, especially in a prison, you mean that they are being left there and their physical and mental condition is being allowed to get worse and worse.

[V prep] Most governments simply leave the long-term jobless to rot on the dole. [Also V]

5) N-UNCOUNT (disapproval) If you say that what someone is saying is rot, you mean that they are saying things that are untrue or stupid. [BRIT, INFORMAL, OLD-FASHIONED]

What a load of pompous, pseudo-intellectual rot...

You do talk rot!

Syn:

nonsense, rubbish

6) → See also dry rot

Phrasal Verbs:

- rot away