rout

The definition of a rout is a chaotic crowd of people, or a troop withdrawal.

(noun)

To rout is to dig up or turn over ground.

(verb)

An example of to rout is a pig digging up truffles.

See rout in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

Origin: ME route < OFr, troop, band, lit., part broken off < L rupta: see route

transitive verb

intransitive verb

Origin: var. of root

transitive verb

See rout in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

a. A disorderly retreat or flight following defeat.
b. An overwhelming defeat.
a. A disorderly crowd of people; a mob.
b. People of the lowest class; rabble.
A public disturbance; a riot.
A company, as of knights or wolves, that are in movement. See Synonyms at flock¹.
A fashionable gathering.

transitive verb rout·ed, rout·ing, routs

To put to disorderly flight or retreat: “the flock of starlings which Jasper had routed with his gun” (Virginia Woolf).
To defeat overwhelmingly. See Synonyms at defeat.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English route

Origin: , from Old French, troop, defeat

Origin: , from Vulgar Latin *rupta

Origin: , from feminine of Latin ruptus

Origin: , past participle of rumpere, to break; see reup- in Indo-European roots

verb rout·ed, rout·ing, routs

verb, intransitive