rut

¹

[ruht]

noun

1. a furrow or track in the ground, especially one made by the passage of a vehicle or vehicles.

2. any furrow, groove, etc.

3. a fixed or established mode of procedure or course of life, usually dull or unpromising.

   to fall into a rut.

verb (used with object)

rutted, rutting 

1. to make a rut or ruts in; furrow.

rut

²

[ruht]

noun

1. the periodically recurring sexual excitement of the deer, goat, sheep, etc.

verb (used without object)

rutted, rutting 

1. to be in the condition of rut.

rut

¹

/ rʌt /

noun

1. a groove or furrow in a soft road, caused by wheels

2. any deep mark, hole, or groove

3. a narrow or predictable way of life, set of attitudes, etc; dreary or undeviating routine (esp in the phrase in a rut )

verb

1. (tr) to make a rut or ruts in

rut

²

/ rʌt /

noun

1. 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

2. another name for oestrus

verb

1. (intr) (of male ruminants) to be in a period of sexual excitement and activity

Word History and Origins

Origin of rut¹

First recorded in 1570–80; perhaps variant of route

Origin of rut²

1375–1425; late Middle English rutte < Middle French rut, ruit < Late Latin rugītus a roaring, equivalent to Latin rugī ( re ) to roar + -tus suffix of v. action

Word History and Origins

Origin of rut¹

C16: probably from French route road

Origin of rut²

C15: from Old French rut noise, roar, from Latin rugītus , from rugīre to roar

Idioms and Phrases

see in a rut.

Example Sentences

He’s the kind of guy weighed down by an internal inertia, asleep while standing up, stuck in a rut.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

It made Penelope drowsy, and when the driver shouted and pulled the troika swiftly and hard to the rutted edge of the road, it startled her into a yelp.

Read more on Literature

Nearly an hour later, she turned onto a rutted dirt road and cranked up the Shania Twain tune “Honey, I’m home.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The sobriety of “Robin Hood” does not render it less than entertaining, just slow to engage its wooden wheels in the muddy ruts of a well-known medieval tale.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The party remains in a debilitating rut, refusing to truly challenge the runaway power of corporate capitalism that has caused ever-widening income inequality.

Read more on Salon