A plant disease caused by fungi that thrives in humid, poorly-ventilated areas and causes wood to decay. The contractor thinks that dry rot has caused this part of the roof to cave in.

To prevent further damage, loss, negative effects, etc., during a problematic situation. If we don't stop the rot now, the company might be in jeopardy of collapsing. We don't have time to figure out a long-term solution. For now, we just have to stop the rot.

The situation deteriorates. When you start charging everything to credit cards, that's when the rot sets in, and you've dug a hole too big to get out of. It's clear that the management isn't trying to retain this as a viable business. The rot has set in for sure.

A fungal infection of the genital area, especially in males, that typically manifests as a rash. I think I need to go to the doctor—this crotch rot isn't getting any better.

The process by which Internet links on a website or search engine lead to a URL that is no longer available. A word of advice to any up-and-coming bloggers or Internet writers in general—don't litter your writing with links to external sources because link rot will inevitably set in.

offensive slang An intentional mispronunciation of "lots of luck" based on the tendency of non-native English speakers from Southeast Asia, especially Japan and China, to conflate the sounds of the letter L and the letter R. My grandfather was always fond of wishing us "rots of ruck" whenever we left his house.

The tendency for computer software to become gradually worse in performance or responsiveness over time, eventually leading to it becoming completely faulty, unresponsive, or unusable. This is either due to software failing to remain up to date and compatible with the operating system in which it operates, or because the software's code has been updated or altered in ways that have introduced more bugs and errors over time. (It doesn't refer to actual physical decay.) If you want to develop programs that people continue to use for years to come, you've got to factor in ways to avoid code rot with each new update, the users will eventually move on to something that works better. A lot of people just let programs sit on their hard drives for years at a time without being updated or upgraded at all, and then are totally flabbergasted when code rot renders them totally unusable down the line.

The tendency for computer software to become gradually worse in performance or responsiveness over time, eventually leading to it becoming completely faulty, unresponsive, or unusable. This is either due to software failing to remain up to date and compatible with the operating system in which it operates, or because the software's code has been updated or altered in ways that have introduced more bugs and errors over time. (It doesn't refer to actual physical decay.) If you want to develop programs that people continue to use for years to come, you've got to factor in ways to avoid software rot with each new update, the users will eventually move on to something that works better. A lot of people just let programs sit on their hard drives for years at a time without being updated or upgraded at all, and then are totally flabbergasted when software rot renders them totally unusable down the line.