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  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), rut·ted, rut·ting.
  1. to make a rut or ruts in; furrow.

Origin of rut1

First recorded in 1570–80; perhaps variant of route


  1. the periodically recurring sexual excitement of the deer, goat, sheep, etc.
verb (used without object), rut·ted, rut·ting.
  1. to be in the condition of rut.

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

Examples from the Web for rutted

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • The main road was north and south, winding and twisting its rutted, sandy way.

    Keziah Coffin

    Joseph C. Lincoln

  • But the rutted, rocky road begins at once to excite suspicion.

    'Charge It'

    Irving Bacheller

  • It is rutted with wheels and trodden down by the feet of many adventurers.

    A Study In Scarlet

    Arthur Conan Doyle

  • He turned off the blacktop and started down the rutted path.

  • At 39 m. is the junction with a dirt road, rutted and winding; not suitable for trailers.

British Dictionary definitions for rutted


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

Word Origin

C16: probably from French route road


  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 ruts, rutting or rutted
  1. (intr) (of male ruminants) to be in a period of sexual excitement and activity

Word Origin

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

Word Origin and History for rutted







Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with rutted

