rottenness : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: rottenness	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for rottenness
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
rottenness n in a state of progressive putrefaction [syn: putrescence, putridness, rottenness, corruption] the quality of rotting and becoming putrid Synonym(s): putrescence, rottenness
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Rotten \Rot"ten\, a. [Icel. rotinn; akin to Sw. rutten, Dan. radden. See {Rot}.] Having rotted; putrid; decayed; as, a rotten apple; rotten meat. Hence: (a) Offensive to the smell; fetid; disgusting. You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate As reek of the rotten fens. --Shak. (b) Not firm or trusty; unsound; defective; treacherous; unsafe; as, a rotten plank, bone, stone. [bd]The deepness of the rotten way.[b8] --Knolles. {Rotten borough}. See under {Borough}. {Rotten stone} (Min.), a soft stone, called also {Tripoli} (from the country from which it was formerly brought), used in all sorts of finer grinding and polishing in the arts, and for cleaning metallic substances. The name is also given to other friable siliceous stones applied to like uses. Syn: Putrefied; decayed; carious; defective; unsound; corrupt; deceitful; treacherous. -- {Rot"tenly}, adv. -- {Rot"tenness}, n.