Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Rote

Rote

,
Noun.
A root.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.

Rote

,
Noun.
[OE.
rote
, probably of German origin; cf. MHG.
rotte
, OHG.
rota
,
hrota
, LL.
chrotta
. Cf.
Crowd
a kind of violin.]
(Mus.)
A kind of guitar, the notes of which were produced by a small wheel or wheel-like arrangement; an instrument similar to the hurdy-gurdy.
Well could he sing and play on a
rote
.
Chaucer.
extracting mistuned dirges from their harps, crowds, and
rotes
.
Sir W. Scott.

Rote

,
Noun.
[Cf.
Rut
roaring.]
The noise produced by the surf of the sea dashing upon the shore. See
Rut
.

Rote

,
Noun.
[OF.
rote
, F.
route
, road, path. See
Route
, and cf.
Rut
a furrow,
Routine
.]
A frequent repetition of forms of speech without attention to the meaning; mere repetition;
as, to learn rules by
rote
.
Swift.
till he the first verse could [i. e., knew] all by
rote
.
Chaucer.
Thy love did read by
rote
, and could not spell.
Shakespeare

Rote

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Roted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Roting
.]
To learn or repeat by rote.
[Obs.]
Shak.

Rote

,
Verb.
I.
To go out by rotation or succession; to rotate.
[Obs.]
Z. Grey.

Webster 1828 Edition


Rote

ROTE

,
Noun.
A kind of violin or harp. Obs.

ROTE

,
Noun.
[L. rota, a wheel.]
Properly, a round of words; frequent repetition of words or sounds, without attending to the signification, or to principles and rules; a practice that impresses words in the memory without an effort of the understanding, and without the aid of rules. Thus children learn to speak by rote; they often repeat what they hear, till it becomes familiar to them. So we learn to sing by rote, as we hear notes repeated, and soon learn to repeat them ourselves.

ROTE

,
Verb.
T.
To fix in the memory by means of frequent repetition ourselves, or by hearing the repetition of others, without an effort of the understanding to comprehend what is repeated, and without the aid of rules or principles. [Little used.]

ROTE

,
Verb.
I.
To go out by rotation or succession. [Little used.]

Definition 2024


Rote

Rote

See also: rote, Röte, and roté

German

Noun

Rote f (genitive Rote, plural Roten)

  1. female Red (communist or socialist)

rote

rote

See also: Rote, roté, and Röte

English

Noun

rote (uncountable)

  1. The process of learning or committing something to memory through mechanical repetition, usually by hearing and repeating aloud, often without full attention to comprehension or thought for the meaning.
    They didn’t have copies of the music for everyone, so most of us had to learn the song by rote.
    • 2009, Jim Holt, Got Poetry?
      But memorize them we did, in big painful chunks, by rote repetition.
  2. Mechanical routine; a fixed, habitual, repetitive, or mechanical course of procedure.
    The pastoral scenes from those commercials don’t bear too much resemblance to the rote of daily life on a farm.
Usage notes
  • Commonly found in the phrase "by rote" and in attributive use: "rote learning", "rote memorization", and so on.
  • Often used pejoratively in comparison with "deeper" learning that leads to "understanding".
Derived terms
See also
Translations

Adjective

rote (comparative more rote, superlative most rote)

  1. By repetition or practice.
    • 2000, Ami Klin; Fred R. Volkmar, Sara S. Sparrow, Asperger syndrome‎, page 316:
      The former may be seen as a more rote form of learning, contrasting with the latter which appears to include "executive" aspects

Verb

rote (third-person singular simple present rotes, present participle roting, simple past and past participle roted)

  1. (obsolete) To go out by rotation or succession; to rotate.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Zane Grey to this entry?)
  2. (transitive) To learn or repeat by rote.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

Etymology 2

c. 1600, from Old Norse rót n (tossing, pitching (of sea)), perhaps related to rauta (to roar).

Noun

rote (uncountable)

  1. (rare) The roar of the surf; the sound of waves breaking on the shore.
Translations

Etymology 3

Old English rote, probably of German origin; compare Middle High German rotte, and English crowd (a kind of violin).

Noun

rote (plural rotes)

  1. (music) A kind of guitar, the notes of which were produced by a small wheel or wheel-like arrangement; an instrument similar to the hurdy-gurdy.
    • Sir Walter Scott
      extracting mistuned dirges from their harps, crowds, and rotes
  2. Synonym of crowd

Anagrams


French

Noun

rote f (plural rotes)

  1. rote (musical instrument)

Verb

rote

  1. first-person singular present indicative of roter
  2. third-person singular present indicative of roter
  3. first-person singular present subjunctive of roter
  4. first-person singular present subjunctive of roter
  5. second-person singular imperative of roter

Anagrams


German

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈʀoːtə/

Adjective

rote

  1. strong, mixed and weak feminine singular nominative form of rot.
  2. strong, mixed and weak feminine singular accusative form of rot.
  3. strong plural nominative form of rot.
  4. strong plural accusative form of rot.
  5. weak masculine singular nominative form of rot.
  6. weak neuter singular nominative form of rot.
  7. weak neuter singular accusative form of rot.

Italian

Noun

rote f

  1. plural of rota

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse róta.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /roːtə/

Verb

rote (present tense roter; past tense and past participle rota or rotet)

  1. to untidy, to make a mess
  2. (slang) to fool around (engage in casual or flirtatious sexual acts)

Derived terms

  • rotet (or rotete)
  • rotehue
  • rotekopp

Related terms


Old French

Noun

rote f (oblique plural rotes, nominative singular rote, nominative plural rotes)

  1. rote (musical instrument)

Descendants


Portuguese

Verb

rote

  1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of rotar
  2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of rotar
  3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of rotar
  4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of rotar

Spanish

Verb

rote

  1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of rotar.
  2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of rotar.
  3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of rotar.
  4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of rotar.

Swedish

Etymology

Old Swedish rote, cognate with English rout and Latin rutta, ruptus.

Noun

rote c

  1. a district (of a parish or town, for the purpose of fire fighting, road maintenance, mail forwarding, social care, etc.)
  2. a file, a section, a squad, a pair (of soldiers, of aircraft)
    20 rotar
    twenty file
    med utryckta rotar
    four deep
    indelning av rotar!
    squad-number!

Declension

Related terms

  • brandrote
  • postrote
  • rotechef
  • rotehjon
  • rotepar

See also

References