Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RO'SY-TINT-ED, a.

Having the tints of the rose. Mrs. Butler.

ROT, n.

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, (Fasciola,) found in the liver, and supposed to be produced from eggs swallowed with their food. Encyc.
2. Putrefaction; putrid decay. Philips.
3. Dry rot, in timber, the decay of the wood without the access of water.

ROT, v.i. [Sax. rotian; D. rotten; Sw. röta; Dan. raadner.]

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, v.t.

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

RO'TA, n. [L. rota, W. rhod, a wheel; allied to rhedu, to run. See Rotary.]

1. An ecclesiastical court of Rome, composed of twelve prelates, of whom one must be a German, another a Frenchman, and two Spaniards; the other eight are Italians. This is one of the most august tribunals in Rome, taking cognizance of all suits in the territory of the church by appeal, and of all matters beneficiary and patrimonial. Encyc.
2. In English history, a club of politicians, who, in the time of Charles I, contemplated an equal government by rotation. Hudibras.

RO'TA-LITE, n.

A genus of fossil shells.

RO'TA-RY, a. [L. rota, a wheel, W. rhod, Sp. rueda, Port. roda, Arm. rod, Fr. roue, G. and D. rad; Malayan, rata, a chariot; allied to W. rhedu, to run. So car is allied to L. curro.]

Turning, as a wheel on its axis; as, rotary motion.

RO'TATE, a.

In botany, wheel-shaped; monopetalous, spreading nearly flat, without any tube, or expanding into a nearly flat border, with scarcely any tube; as, a rotate corol. Martyn. Smith.

RO'TA-TED, a. [L. rotatus.]

Turned round, as a wheel.

RO'TATE-PLANE, a.

In botany, wheel-shaped and flat, without a tube; as, a rotate-plane corol. Lee.

RO-TA'TION, n. [L. rotatio, from roto, to turn; rota, a wheel.]

1. The act of turning, as a wheel or solid body on its axis, as distinguished from the progressive motion of a body revolving round another body or a distant point. Thus the daily turning of the earth on its axis, is a rotation; its annual motion round the sun is a revolution.
2. Vicissitude of succession; the course by which officers or others leave their places at certain times, and are succeeded by others; applied also to a change of crops.

RO'TA-TIVE, a.

Turning, as a wheel; rotary. [Little used.]

RO-TA'TOR, n. [L.]

That which gives a circular or rolling motion; a muscle producing a rolling motion. Coxe.

RO'TA-TO-RY, a. [from rotator.]

1. Turning on an axis, as a wheel; rotary.
2. Going in a circle; following in succession; as, rotatory assemblies. Burke. [This word is often used, probably by mistake, for rotary. It may be regularly formed from rotator, but not with the exact sense in which it is used. With rotator for its original, it would signify causing, rather than being in a circular motion. The true word is rotary.]

ROTE, n.¹ [a contraction of crowd, W. crwth, Ir. cruit.]

A kind of violin or harp. [Obs.]

ROTE, n.² [L. rota, a wheel, whence Fr. routine.]

Properly, a round of words; frequent repetition of words or sounds, without attending to the signification, or to principles and rules; a practice that impresses words in the memory, without an effort of the understanding, and without the aid of rules. Thus children learn to speak by rote; they often repeat what they hear, till it becomes familiar to them. So we learn to sing by rote, as we hear notes repeated, and soon learn to repeat them ourselves.

ROTE, v.i.

To go out by rotation or succession. [Little used.] Grey.

ROTE, v.t.

To fix in the memory by means of frequent repetition ourselves, or by hearing the repetition of others, without an effort of the understanding to comprehend what is repeated, and without the aid of rules or principles. [Little used.] Shak.

ROTH'ER-BEASTS, n. [Sax. hryther, a quadruped.]

Cattle of the bovine genus; called in England black cattle. [Not used in America.] Golding.

ROTH'ER-NAILS, n. [corrupted from rudder-nails.]

Among shipwrights, nails with very full heads, used for fastening the rudder irons of ships. Bailey.

ROTH'OF-FITE, n.

A variety of garnet, brown or black, found in Sweden. It has a resemblance to melanite, another variety, but differs from it in having a small portion of alumin. Cyc.

RO'TI-FER, n. [L. rota and fero.]

The rotifers are a class of infusorial animals, having ciliated appendages on the fore part of the body, which seem to move in a rotary manner. Brande.

RO'TO-CO, n.

An eastern weight of 5 lbs. Entick.

ROT'TED, pp.

Made putrid.

ROT'TEN, a. [rot'n; Sw. rutten.]

1. Putrid; carious; decomposed by the natural process of decay; as, a rotten plank.
2. Not firm or trusty; unsound; defective in principle; treacherous; deceitful.
3. Defective in substance; not sound or hard. Knolles.
4. Fetid; ill smelling. Shak.