Other forms: routs
A rout is a crushing defeat that sends the losers fleeing. Turn into a rout, a complete rout, put them to rout.
The fleeing is the definition: an army that retreats in order has not been routed, and most casualties in ancient battles came after the rout began. In sport it means a one-sided score.
1nounroutA crushing defeat that sends the losers fleeing.
“The battle turned into a rout as the enemy fled across the river.”
rout is a defeat.
The Latin behind it is broken, the same breaking in interrupt. A rout is an army broken open and running.
hooks ontointerrupt
Old French route first meant a broken band of men, from Latin rupta, broken, the root of route and rupture.
Proto-Indo-European
*Hrewp- — to break; to tear (up)
Latin
rupta
Old French
rote
Middle French
rote
Anglo-Norman
route
Middle English
rout
English, today
rout
Built from
The noun is derived from Middle English rout, route (“group of people associated with one another, company; entourage, retinue; army; group of soldiers; group of pirates; large number of people, crowd; throng; group of disreputable people, mob; riot; group of animals; group of objects; proper condition or manner”)rote, rought, roughte, rouht, routh, routhte, routt, routte, rouwte, rouʒt, rouʒte, rovte, rowt, rowte, rowth, rowthte, rowtt, rowtte, rowȝt, ruth, rutte, (West Midlands) roite, (Northern England) rutte, ruth, (chiefly Northern England, early Middle English) rut, rute, from Anglo-Norman route, rute, Middle French rote, route, Old French rote, route, rute (“group of people, company; group of armed people; group of criminals; group of cattle”) (modern French route obsolete), from Latin rupta (compare Latin ruta, rutta (“group of marauders; riot; unlawful assembly”)), the feminine of ruptus (“broken; burst, ruptured”), the perfect passive participle of rumpō (“to break, burst, rupture, tear; to force open; (figurative) to annul; to destroy; to interrupt”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European Hrewp- (“to break; to tear (up)”). The English word is a a doublet of route. The verb is derived from Middle English routen (“to assemble, congregate; of animals: to herd together; to regroup, make a stand against; to be riotous, to riot”)route, rowte, (Northern England) rute, (Late Middle English) rouȝt, from rout, route; see above.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA