rut Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a groove or furrow (especially one in soft earth caused by wheels)
  2. noun a settled and monotonous routine that is hard to escape
    groove.
    • they fell into a conversational rut
  3. noun applies to nonhuman mammals: a state or period of heightened sexual arousal and activity
    oestrus; estrus; heat.
  4. verb be in a state of sexual excitement; of male mammals
  5. verb hollow out in the form of a furrow or groove
    groove; furrow.
    • furrow soil

WordNet

Rut noun
Etymology
F. rut, OF. ruit, L. ruditus a roaring, fr. rugire to roar; -sp called from the noise made by deer in rutting time.
Definitions
  1. (Physiol.) Sexual desire or oestrus of deer, cattle, and various other mammals; heat; also, the period during which the oestrus exists.
  2. Roaring, as of waves breaking upon the shore; rote. See Rote.
Rut intransitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Rutted; present participle & verbal noun Rutting
Definitions
  1. To have a strong sexual impulse at the reproductive period; -- said of deer, cattle, etc.
Rut transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To cover in copulation. Dryden.
Rut noun
Etymology
variant of route.
Definitions
  1. A track worn by a wheel or by habitual passage of anything; a groove in which anything runs. Also used figuratively. (Fig.) Habitual, unvarying activity -- usually used in the phrase in a rut.
Rut transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To make a rut or ruts in; -- chiefly used as a past participle or a participial adj; as, a rutted road.

Webster 1913