What does "rote" mean?

Additional senses

1. 2.A kind of guitar, the notes of which were produced by a small wheel or wheel-like arrangement; an instrument similar to the hurdy- gurdy. Well could he sing and play on a rote. Chaucer. extracting mistuned dirges from their harps, crowds, and rotes. Sir W. Scott.
2. 3.The noise produced by the surf of the sea dashing upon the shore. See Rut.
3. 4.A frequent repetition of forms of speech without attention to the meaning; mere repetition; as, to learn rules by rote. Swift. till he the first verse could [i. e., knew] all by rote. Chaucer. Thy love did read by rote, and could not spell. Shak.
4. 5.To learn or repeat by rote. [Obs.] Shak.
5. 6.To go out by rotation or succession; to rotate. [Obs.] Z. Grey.