1. A settled and monotonous routine that is hard to escape
   "they fell into a conversational rut";
   - groove
    
2. A groove or furrow (especially one in soft earth caused by wheels)
   "The truck left deep ruts in the muddy road"
    
3. Applies to nonhuman mammals: a state or period of heightened sexual arousal and activity
   "The deer entered their annual rut in early autumn";
   - estrus [N. Amer], oestrus [Brit], heat

1. Be in a state of sexual excitement; of male mammals
   "The stags rut during the fall season"
    
2. Hollow out in the form of a furrow or groove
   "rut soil";
   - furrow, groove

Derived forms: rutting, rutted, ruts

Type of: channel, cut into, delve [archaic], dig, experience, feel, groove, MO, modus operandi, physical condition, physiological condition, physiological state, routine, turn over

Encyclopedia: Rut, Tolmin