rout
    n 1: a disorderly crowd of people [syn: mob, rabble, rout]
    2: an overwhelming defeat
    v 1: cause to flee; "rout out the fighters from their caves"
         [syn: rout, rout out, expel]
    2: dig with the snout; "the pig was rooting for truffles" [syn:
       rout, root, rootle]
    3: make a groove in [syn: rout, gouge]
    4: defeat disastrously [syn: spread-eagle, spreadeagle,
       rout]

Rout \Rout\ (rout), v. i. [AS. hr[=u]tan.]
   To roar; to bellow; to snort; to snore loudly. [Obs. or
   Scot.] --Chaucer.
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Rout \Rout\, v. i.
   To assemble in a crowd, whether orderly or disorderly; to
   collect in company. [obs.] --Bacon.
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         In all that land no Christian[s] durste route.
                                                  --Chaucer.
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Rout \Rout\, n.
   A bellowing; a shouting; noise; clamor; uproar; disturbance;
   tumult. --Shak.
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         This new book the whole world makes such a rout about.
                                                  --Sterne.
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         "My child, it is not well," I said,
         "Among the graves to shout;
         To laugh and play among the dead,
         And make this noisy rout."               --Trench.
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Rout \Rout\, v. t. [A variant of root.]
   To scoop out with a gouge or other tool; to furrow.
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   To rout out
   (a) To turn up to view, as if by rooting; to discover; to
       find.
   (b) To turn out by force or compulsion; as, to rout people
       out of bed. [Colloq.]
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Rout \Rout\, v. i.
   To search or root in the ground, as a swine. --Edwards.
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Rout \Rout\, n. [OF. route, LL. rupta, properly, a breaking, fr.
   L. ruptus, p. p. of rumpere to break. See Rupture, reave,
   and cf. Rote repetition of forms, Route. In some senses
   this word has been confused with rout a bellowing, an
   uproar.] [Formerly spelled also route.]
   1. A troop; a throng; a company; an assembly; especially, a
      traveling company or throng. [Obs.] "A route of ratones
      [rats]." --Piers Plowman. "A great solemn route."
      --Chaucer.
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            And ever he rode the hinderest of the route.
                                                  --Chaucer.
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            A rout of people there assembled were. --Spenser.
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   2. A disorderly and tumultuous crowd; a mob; hence, the
      rabble; the herd of common people.
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            the endless routs of wretched thralls. --Spenser.
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            The ringleader and head of all this rout. --Shak.
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            Nor do I name of men the common rout. --Milton.
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   3. The state of being disorganized and thrown into confusion;
      -- said especially of an army defeated, broken in pieces,
      and put to flight in disorder or panic; also, the act of
      defeating and breaking up an army; as, the rout of the
      enemy was complete.
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            thy army . . .
            Dispersed in rout, betook them all to fly. --Daniel.
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            To these giad conquest, murderous rout to those.
                                                  --pope.
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   4. (Law) A disturbance of the peace by persons assembled
      together with intent to do a thing which, if executed,
      would make them rioters, and actually making a motion
      toward the executing thereof. --Wharton.
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   5. A fashionable assembly, or large evening party. "At routs
      and dances." --Landor.
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   To put to rout, to defeat and throw into confusion; to
      overthrow and put to flight.
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Rout \Rout\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Routed; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Routing.]
   To break the ranks of, as troops, and put them to flight in
   disorder; to put to rout.
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         That party . . . that charged the Scots, so totally
         routed and defeated their whole army, that they fied.
                                                  --Clarendon.
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   Syn: To defeat; discomfit; overpower; overthrow.
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ROUT, crim. law. A disturbance of the peace by persons assembled together 
with an intention to do a thing, which, if executed, would have made them 
rioters, and actually making a motion towards the execution of their 
purpose. 
     2. It generally agrees in all particulars with a riot, except only in 
this, that it may be a complete offence without the execution of the 
intended enterprise. Hawk. c. 65, s. 14; 1 Russ. on Cr. 253; 4 Bl. Com. 140; 
Vin. Abr. Riots, &c., A 2 Com. Dig. Forcible Entry, D 9.