rut
1a furrow or track in the ground, especially one made by the passage of a vehicle or vehicles.
any furrow, groove, etc.
a fixed or established mode of procedure or course of life, usually dull or unpromising: to fall into a rut.
to make a rut or ruts in; furrow.
Origin of rut
1Other definitions for rut (2 of 2)
the periodically recurring sexual excitement of the deer, goat, sheep, etc.
to be in the condition of rut.
Origin of rut
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use rut in a sentence
He went to his Jeep, raised a hand toward the cabin, and made for the rutted track through the woods.
Approaching a road rutted with streetcar channels, McGlinchey told himself: Steer clear.
Intermittent, torrential rain showers turned the rutted, cratered road into a bog of red mud.
She heard a thud that made her ears ring, and suddenly Wolf Paw was slumping to the rutted trail in front of her.
Shaman | Robert SheaWe take our rutted thoughts, our predispositions, our cultural concepts wherever we go.
The Memory of Mars | Raymond F. Jones
They rode on past a stockyard, and into a rutted street of bare frame houses, and Hetty was glad they scarcely met anybody.
The Cattle-Baron's Daughter | Harold BindlossThe road had been deeply rutted during the November rains, and now the ruts were frozen.
Cy Whittaker's Place | Joseph C. LincolnThe ground was hard and rutted with frosty mud and bruised her slender feet through her white buckskin sandals.
I, Mary MacLane | Mary MacLane
British Dictionary definitions for rut (1 of 2)
/ (rʌt) /
a groove or furrow in a soft road, caused by wheels
any deep mark, hole, or groove
a narrow or predictable way of life, set of attitudes, etc; dreary or undeviating routine (esp in the phrase in a rut)
(tr) to make a rut or ruts in
Origin of rut
1British Dictionary definitions for rut (2 of 2)
/ (rʌt) /
a recurrent period of sexual excitement and reproductive activity in certain male ruminants, such as the deer, that corresponds to the period of oestrus in females
another name for oestrus
(intr) (of male ruminants) to be in a period of sexual excitement and activity
Origin of rut
2Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with rut
see in a rut.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Browse