Part 408

Rosy cross. See the Note under Rosicrucian, n.

Rot (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rotted; p. pr. & vb. n. Rotting.] [OE. rotien, AS. rotian; akin to D. rotten, Prov. G. rotten, OHG. rozz&?;n, G. rösten to steep flax, Icel. rotna to rot, Sw. ruttna, Dan. raadne, Icel. rottin rotten. √117. Cf. Ret, Rotten.] 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, v. t. 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, n. 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.

Bitter rot (Bot.), a disease of apples, caused by the fungus Glæosporium fructigenum. F. L. Scribner. -- Black rot (Bot.), a disease of grapevines, attacking the leaves and fruit, caused by the fungus Læstadia Bidwellii. F. L. Scribner. -- Dry rot (Bot.) See under Dry. -- Grinder's rot (Med.) See under Grinder. -- Potato rot. (Bot.) See under Potato. -- White rot (Bot.), a disease of grapes, first appearing in whitish pustules on the fruit, caused by the fungus Coniothyrium diplodiella. F. L. Scribner.

||Ro"ta (?), n. [L. rota wheel. The name is said to allude to the ||design of the floor of the room in which the court used to sit, which ||was that of a wheel. See Rotary.] 1. An ecclesiastical court of Rome, ||called also Rota Romana, that takes cognizance of suits by appeal. It ||consists of twelve members.

2. (Eng. Hist.) A short-lived political club established in 1659 by J.Harrington to inculcate the democratic doctrine of election of the principal officers of the state by ballot, and the annual retirement of a portion of Parliament.

Ro"ta (?), n. (Mus.) A species of zither, played like a guitar, used in the Middle Ages in church music; -- written also rotta.

Ro"ta*cism (?), n. See Rhotacism.

Ro"tal (?), a. Relating to wheels or to rotary motion; rotary. [R.]

Ro"ta*lite (?), n. [L. rota wheel + -lite.] (Paleon.) Any fossil foraminifer of the genus Rotalia, abundant in the chalk formation. See Illust. under Rhizopod.

Ro"ta*ry (?), a. [L. rota a wheel. See Roll, v., and cf. barouche, Rodomontade, Roué, Round, a., Rowel.] Turning, as a wheel on its axis; pertaining to, or resembling, the motion of a wheel on its axis; rotatory; as, rotary motion.

Rotary engine, steam engine in which the continuous rotation of the shaft is produced by the direct action of the steam upon rotating devices which serve as pistons, instead of being derived from a reciprocating motion, as in the ordinary engine; a steam turbine; -- called also rotatory engine. -- Rotary pump, a pump in which the fluid is impelled by rotating devices which take the place of reciprocating buckets or pistons. -- Rotary shears, shears, as for cloth, metal, etc., in which revolving sharp-edged or sharp-cornered wheels do the cutting. -- Rotary valve, a valve acting by continuous or partial rotation, as in the four-way cock.

Ro"ta*scope (?), n. [L. rota a wheel + -scope.] Same as Gyroscope, 1.

Ro"tate (?), a. [L. rotatus, p. p. of rotare to turn round like a wheel, fr. rota wheel. See Rotary, and cf. Roue.] Having the parts spreading out like a wheel; wheel-shaped; as, a rotate spicule or scale; a rotate corolla, i.e., a monopetalous corolla with a flattish border, and no tube or a very short one.