rusty

See also: Rusty

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɹʌsti/
  • Rhymes: -ʌsti

Etymology 1

Old English rustig, corresponding to rust +‎ -y.

Adjective

rusty (comparative rustier, superlative rustiest)

  1. Marked or corroded by rust. [from 9th c.]
  2. Of the rust color, reddish or reddish-brown. [from 14th c.]
    • 1855, Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”, XIV:
      Alive? he might be dead for aught I know, / With that red gaunt and colloped neck a-strain, / And shut eyes underneath the rusty mane;
    • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody, chapter I:
      Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with […] on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.
  3. Lacking recent experience, out of practice, especially with respect to a skill or activity. [from 16th c.]
    • 2010 December 29, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0-1 Wolverhampton”, in BBC:
      Before the match, Hodgson had expressed the hope that his players would be fresh rather than rusty after an 18-day break from league commitments because of two successive postponements.
  4. (now chiefly historical) Of clothing, especially dark clothing: worn, shabby. [from 17th c.]
    • 1911, Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson:
      He wore a black jacket, rusty and amorphous.
Derived terms
Translations
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Etymology 2

Variant form of resty; compare also reasty.

Adjective

rusty (comparative more rusty, superlative most rusty)

  1. Discolored and rancid; reasty. [from 16th c.]
    rusty bacon

Anagrams

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