Emily Dickinson Lexicon

ROUT, n.³ [Fr. route; Sp. rauta; Arm. roud; W. rhawd, a rout or way; rhodiaw, to walk about; Eng. road. See Road. It belongs to the family of ride and L. gradior; properly a going or passing.]

The course or way which is traveled or passed, or to be passed; a passing; a course; a march. Wide through the furzy field their rout they take. Guy. Rout and road are not synonymous. We say, to mend or repair a road, but not to mend a rout. We use rout for a course of passing, and not without reference to the passing of some person or body of men; but rout is not the road itself.