dry-rot

verb (used with or without object), dry-rot·ted, dry-rot·ting.

1. to undergo or cause to undergo the action or effects of dry rot.

noun

1. Plant Pathology.
   1. a decay of seasoned timber, resulting in its becoming brittle and crumbling to a dry powder, caused by various fungi.
   2. any of various diseases of plants in which the rotted tissues are dry.
2. any concealed or unsuspected inner decay.

noun

1. crumbling and drying of timber, bulbs, potatoes, or fruit, caused by saprotrophic basidiomycetous fungi
2. any fungus causing this decay, esp of the genus Merulius
3. moral degeneration or corrupt practices, esp when previously unsuspected