ROT, verb intransitive

To lose the natural cohesion and organization of parts, as animal and vegetable substances; to be decomposed and resolved into its original component parts by the natural process, or the gradual operation of heat and air; to putrefy.

ROT, verb transitive To make putrid; to cause to be decomposed by the natural operation of air and heat; to bring to corruption.

ROT, noun

1. A fatal distemper incident to sheep, usually supposed to be owing to wet seasons and moist pastures. The immediate cause of the mortality of sheep, in this disease, is found to be a great number of small animals, called flukes, (Fascida, ) found in the liver, and supposed to be produced from eggs swallowed with their food.

2. Putrefaction; putrid decay.

3. Dry rot in timber, the decay of the wood without the access of water.