Rŏt'ten, a.

(rŏt'tn), a. [See RŌT. Sw. rutten.] Having rotted; putrid; decayed; as, a rotten apple; hence, (a.) Offensive to the smell; fetid; disgusting. You common cry of curs, whose breath I hate As reek of the rotten fen. Shak. (b.) Not firm or trusty; unsound; defective; treacherous; as, a rotten plank. “The deepness of the rotten way.” Knolles. His principal care was to have many bridges laid over bogs and rotten moors. Milton. Syn.—Putrefied; putrid; decayed; carious; defective; unsound; corrupt; deceitful; treacherous.