| English Dictionary |
RUSTY (rustier, rustiest)
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
, rustiest Dictionary entry overview: What does rusty mean?
• RUSTY (adjective)
The adjective RUSTY has 4 senses:
1. covered with or consisting of rust
2. of the brown color of rust
3. impaired in skill by neglect
4. ancient
Familiarity information: RUSTY used as an adjective is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
| Declension: comparative and superlative |
Superlative: rustiest
Sense 1
Meaning:
Covered with or consisting of rust
Context example:
rusty deposits
Similar:
rusted (having accumulated rust)
Derivation:
rust (a red or brown oxide coating on iron or steel caused by the action of oxygen and moisture)
rustiness (the condition of being coated or clogged with rust)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Of the brown color of rust
Synonyms:
rust; rust-brown; rusty
Similar:
chromatic (being or having or characterized by hue)
Derivation:
rust (a red or brown oxide coating on iron or steel caused by the action of oxygen and moisture)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Impaired in skill by neglect
Synonyms:
out of practice; rusty
Similar:
unskilled (not having or showing or requiring special skill or proficiency)
Derivation:
rustiness (ineptitude or awkwardness as a consequence of age or lack of practice)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Ancient
Synonyms:
hoary; rusty
Context example:
hoary jokes
Similar:
old (of long duration; not new)
Context examples
I must have gone fast, and yet it seemed to me as if my feet were weighted with lead, and as though every joint in my body were rusty.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
His joints were like rusty hinges.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
You never saw such a rusty Prince in all your born days as he was.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Much of this oxygen went into rocks, leading to the rusty red dust that covers the surface today.
(NASA Rover Findings Point to a More Earth-like Martian Past, NASA)
“I can but see an old rusty nail, with bits of stone and slips of wood.”
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
“Ay,” continued Utterson, “and the fractures, too, are rusty.”
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
“Ben Gunn,” he answered, and his voice sounded hoarse and awkward, like a rusty lock.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
My biblical knowledge is a trifle rusty, I fear, but you will find the story in the first or second of Samuel.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
When they could see to the bottom there lay a wild man whose body was brown like rusty iron, and whose hair hung over his face down to his knees.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
His rusty coat had a social air, and the baggy pockets plainly proved that little hands often went in empty and came out full.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
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