Rot"ten (?), a. [Icel. rotinn;
akin to Sw. rutten, Dan. radden. See Rot.]
Having rotted; putrid; decayed; as, a rotten apple;
rotten meat. Hence: (a) Offensive to
the smell; fetid; disgusting.
You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate
As reek of the rotten fens.
Shak.
(b) Not firm or trusty; unsound; defective;
treacherous; unsafe; as, a rotten plank, bone, stone.
"The deepness of the rotten way." Knolles.
Rotten borough. See under
Borough. -- Rotten stone (Min.),
a soft stone, called also Tripoli (from the country from
which it was formerly brought), used in all sorts of finer grinding
and polishing in the arts, and for cleaning metallic substances. The
name is also given to other friable siliceous stones applied to like
uses.
Syn. -- Putrefied; decayed; carious; defective; unsound;
corrupt; deceitful; treacherous.
-- Rot"ten*ly, adv. --
Rot"ten*ness, n.
Rot"ten (?), a. [Icel. rotinn;
akin to Sw. rutten, Dan. radden. See Rot.]
Having rotted; putrid; decayed; as, a rotten apple;
rotten meat. Hence: (a) Offensive to
the smell; fetid; disgusting.
You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate
As reek of the rotten fens.
Shak.
(b) Not firm or trusty; unsound; defective;
treacherous; unsafe; as, a rotten plank, bone, stone.
"The deepness of the rotten way." Knolles.
Rotten borough. See under
Borough. -- Rotten stone (Min.),
a soft stone, called also Tripoli (from the country from
which it was formerly brought), used in all sorts of finer grinding
and polishing in the arts, and for cleaning metallic substances. The
name is also given to other friable siliceous stones applied to like
uses.
Syn. -- Putrefied; decayed; carious; defective; unsound;
corrupt; deceitful; treacherous.
-- Rot"ten*ly, adv. --
Rot"ten*ness, n.
