Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to talk nonsense; thus rotting n. and adj. [rot n.¹ ].

1899		Kipling ‘A Little Prep’ in Complete Stalky & Co. (1987) 184: Drop rottin’ for a minute. I want to find out about the Head bein’ where he was.
1908		Magnet 22 Feb. 15: Bite a bit out of his leg, Grip, and stop his rotting. [Ibid.] 7 Mar. 11: I never thought he was rotting. I don’t see what he wanted to lie about it for.
1915		Wodehouse Psmith Journalist (1993) 299: ‘He is indispensable, Comrade Jackson, indispensable.’ ‘No rotting.’.
1921		‘Dornford Yates’ Berry and Co 51: I’m not rotting. It was real — something that mattered.
1940		J.G. Brandon Gang War 112: ‘Don’t rot, Mac,’ Gilliver said uneasily.

2. to spoil, to interfere with, to ruin [i.e. to render SE rotten].

1899		Kipling ‘The Moral Reformers’ in Complete Stalky & Co. (1987) 121: It takes the house-masters off their work, and it gives the prefects a heap too much power, an’ — an’ — it rots up everything.
1908		D. Coke House Prefect 104: You can see Bob’s off you, and we don’t want to rot the whole thing up, just when he’s begun to be decent again.
1932		‘A. Bridge’ Peking Picnic 323: I’ve got a complex about the whole business, and you know why. Well, that might rot it all up, at any moment [OED].

3. to tease heavily, to abuse, to denigrate; thus rotting n. [rot n.¹ ].

1890		H. Fludyer Letters 89: We all rot him about it frightfully.
1899		Kipling ‘The Flag of Their Country’ in Complete Stalky & Co. (1987) 210: Look here, Turkey, you musn’t rot the corps.
1906		Marvel 27 Oct. 391: Oh, don’t rot!
1914		‘Ian Hay’ Lighter Side of School Life 181: Bless you, we don’t do any work; we just rot Duck-face.
1922		(con. 1900s) S. Leslie Oppidan 38: Hinting that there might be a sport taking the mysterious form of ‘rotting the Flea.’.
1925		M. Arlen May Fair (1947) 189: ‘Look here, no rotting!’ he warned her.
1958		C. Lee diary 14 July in Eight Bells & Top Masts (2001) 136: Every morning they [i.e stewards] get it wrong [...] So on Monday Ainslie and I thought we’d rot them up.

4. (US campus) to be irritating or unsatisfactory; usu. as that rots.

1981		Eble Campus Sl. Fall 6: rots – very bad or annoying or disappointing.
1987		Eble Campus Sl. Fall 7: that rots – that’s a bad situation: ‘I have two mid-terms tomorrow.’ ‘That rots.’.
1993		L. Rodríguez Always Running (1996) 10: The words ‘Efrain Rots’ had been emblazoned on a wall.