1. (Physiol.) Sexual desire or œstrus of deer, cattle, and various other mammals; heat; also, the period
during which the œstrus exists.
2. Roaring, as of waves breaking upon the shore; rote. See Rote.
Rut
(Rut), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rutted; p. pr. & vb. n. Rutting.] To have a strong sexual impulse at
the reproductive period; — said of deer, cattle, etc.
Rut
(Rut), v. t. To cover in copulation. Dryden.
Rut
(Rut), n. [variant of route.] A track worn by a wheel or by habitual passage of anything; a groove
in which anything runs. Also used figuratively.
Rut
(Rut), v. t. To make a rut or ruts in; — chiefly used as a past participle or a participial adj.; as, a
rutted road.
Ruta-baga
(Ru`ta-ba"ga) n. (Bot.) A kind of turnip commonly with a large and long or ovoid yellowish
root; a Swedish turnip. See Turnip.
Rutaceous
(Ru*ta"ceous) a. [L. rutaceous, from ruta rue. See Rue the plant.] (Bot.) Of or pertaining
to plants of a natural order (Rutaceæ) of which the rue is the type, and which includes also the orange,
lemon, dittany, and buchu.
Rutate
(Ru"tate) n. (Chem.) A salt of rutic acid.
Ruth
(Ruth) n. [From Rue, v.: cf. Icel. hryggð, hrygð.]
1. Sorrow for the misery of another; pity; tenderness. [Poetic] "They weep for ruth." Chaucer. "Have
ruth of the poor." Piers Plowman.
To stir up gentle ruth,
Both for her noble blood, and for her tender youth.
Spenser. 2. That which causes pity or compassion; misery; distress; a pitiful sight. [Obs.]
It had been hard this ruth for to see.
Chaucer.
With wretched miseries and woeful ruth.
Spenser. Ruthenic
(Ru*then"ic) a. (Chem.) Pertaining to, or containing, ruthenium; specifically, designating those
compounds in which it has a higher valence as contrasted with ruthenious compounds.
Ruthenious
(Ru*the"ni*ous) a. (Chem.) Pertaining to, or containing, ruthenium; specifically, designating
those compounds in which it has a lower valence as contrasted with ruthenic compounds.
Ruthenium
(Ru*the"ni*um) n. [NL. So named from the Ruthenians, a Little Russian people, as coming
from Russia, the metal having been found in the Ural mountains.] (Chem.) A rare element of the light
platinum group, found associated with platinum ores, and isolated as a hard, brittle steel-gray metal
which is very infusible. Symbol Ru. Atomic weight 103.5. Specific gravity 12.26. See Platinum metals,
under Platinum.
Ruthful
(Ruth"ful) a. Full of ruth; as: (a) Pitiful; tender. (b) Full of sorrow; woeful. (c) Causing sorrow.
Shak. — Ruth"ful*ly, adv.
Ruthless
(Ruth"less), a. Having no ruth; cruel; pitiless.
Their rage the hostile bands restrain,
All but the ruthless monarch of the main.
Pope.
