rout
pronunciation
How to pronounce rout in British English:
UK [raʊt]
How to pronounce rout in American English:
US [raʊt]
-
- Noun:
- a disorderly crowd of people
- an overwhelming defeat
-
- Verb:
- cause to flee
- dig with the snout
- make a groove in
- defeat disastrously
Word Origin
- rout
- rout: English has two words rout. ‘Disorderly retreat’ [16] comes via archaic French route ‘dispersed group’ and Italian rotta ‘breakage’ from Vulgar Latin *rupta, a noun use of the past participle of Latin rumpere ‘break’ (source of English corrupt, disrupt [17], erupt, and rupture and related to English rob). Other English descendants of *rupta are route, routine, and rut. Rout ‘dig with the nose’, hence ‘search, rummage’ [16] is a variant form of root.=> corrupt, disrupt, erupt, rob, robe, route, routine, rupture, rut; root
- rout (n.)
- 1590s, "disorderly retreat following a defeat," from Middle French route "disorderly flight of troops," literally "a breaking off, rupture," from Vulgar Latin rupta "a dispersed group," literally "a broken group," from noun use of Latin rupta, fem. past participle of rumpere "to break" (see rupture (n.)). The archaic English noun rout "group of persons, assemblage," is the same word, from Anglo-French rute, Old French route "host, troop, crowd," from Vulgar Latin rupta "a dispersed group," here with sense of "a division, a detachment." It first came to English meaning "group of soldiers" (early 13c.), also "gang of outlaws or rioters, mob" (c. 1300) before the more general sense developed 14c. Also as a legal term. A rout-cake (1807) was one baked for use at a reception.
- rout (v.)
- "drive into disordered flight by defeat," c. 1600, from rout (n.). Related: Routed; routing.
Example
- 1. But lately retreat has turned to rout .
- 2. And the prospect of a democratic rout prompts an inevitable question .
- 3. Again mps lament mr brown 's charmlessness and labour 's likely electoral rout .
- 4. Markets across europe were also in freefall , following yet another rout in asia .
- 5. A wave of job losses has started to spread across california 's silicon valley as the trademark optimism of the region 's technology start-ups has turned to pessimism amid the financial market rout .