rutter

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɹʌtə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹədəɹ/

From Middle Dutch ruter, rutter, variants of ruiter, from Middle French routier (“mercenary soldier”), corresponding to rout +‎ -ier.

rutter (plural rutters)

1. (historical) A horseman or cavalryman, especially a German one, associated with the wars of the 16th and 17th centuries. [from 16th c.]
   • c. 1611, John Fletcher, “The Woman's Prize”, Act I, scene iv:

     Such a regiment of rutters / Never defied men braver

From Middle French routier, corresponding to route +‎ -ier.

rutter (plural rutters)

1. (historical) A set of instructions for navigating a course at sea; a pilot's book or seaman's guide. [from 16th c.]
   • 1975, James Clavell, Shōgun, Random House 2009, p. 13:

     But a rutter was only as good as the pilot who write it, the scribe who hand-copied it, the very rare printer who printed it, or the scholar who translated it.

From rut +‎ -er.

rutter (plural rutters)

1. (now chiefly Scotland) A tool used in peat cutting or for marking off ground. [from 18th c.]
2. (Canada, US, now historical) A type of plough used by lumberjacks to carve a track for a sleigh. [from 19th c.]
3. (slang) The penis.
   • 2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster 2014, p. 321:

     She moved my rutter so that it was not poking into her. We fell asleep.

• Rut

• turret

rutter

1. indefinite plural of rutt