Library / English Dictionary

ROUT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An overwhelming defeat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("rout" is a kind of...):

defeat; licking (an unsuccessful ending to a struggle or contest)

Derivation:

rout (defeat disastrously)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A disorderly crowd of people

Synonyms:

mob; rabble; rout

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("rout" is a kind of...):

crowd (a large number of things or people considered together)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rout"):

lynch mob (a mob that kills a person for some presumed offense without legal authority)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Defeat disastrously

Synonyms:

rout; spread-eagle; spreadeagle

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "rout" is one way to...):

beat; beat out; crush; shell; trounce; vanquish (come out better in a competition, race, or conflict)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The fighter managed to rout his opponent

Derivation:

rout (an overwhelming defeat)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to flee

Example:

rout out the fighters from their caves

Synonyms:

expel; rout; rout out

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "rout" is one way to...):

defeat; get the better of; overcome (win a victory over)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make a groove in

Synonyms:

gouge; rout

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "rout" is one way to...):

core out; hollow; hollow out (remove the interior of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Dig with the snout

Example:

the pig was rooting for truffles

Synonyms:

root; rootle; rout

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "rout" is one way to...):

cut into; delve; dig; turn over (turn up, loosen, or remove earth)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

Next day Johansen, the new mate, was routed from the cabin by Wolf Larsen, and sent into the steerage to sleep thereafter, while I took possession of the tiny cabin state-room, which, on the first day of the voyage, had already had two occupants.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I'm not a doctor only; I'm a magistrate; and if I catch a breath of complaint against you, if it's only for a piece of incivility like tonight's, I'll take effectual means to have you hunted down and routed out of this.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

In the morning it was Henry who awoke first and routed his companion out of bed.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

For my part, said Sir Simon Burley, I think that it is madness, for you cannot hope to rout this great army; and where are you to go and what are you to do when they have turned upon you?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Thomas Mugridge routed me out at half-past five, much in the fashion that Bill Sykes must have routed out his dog; but Mr. Mugridge’s brutality to me was paid back in kind and with interest.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

For the time, fear had been routed by growth, while growth had assumed the guise of curiosity.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

At first I thought it was another party, a wild rout that had resolved itself into "hide-and-go-seek" or "sardines-in-the-box" with all the house thrown open to the game.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)