fuscous

[fuhs-kuh s]

adjective

of brownish-gray or dusky color.

Origin of fuscous

1655–65; < Latin fusc(us) dark, tawny, dusky + -ous

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for fuscous

Historical Examples of fuscous

The wings are not shaded with fuscous toward the base as much as in A. zerene.
The Butterfly Book
William Jacob Holland
Color dark brownish or fuscous in summer pelage; winter pelage unknown.
Speciation of the Wandering Shrew
James S. Findley
The stipe is usually white above, fuscous below, at the apex almost evanescent; hence the cernuous sporangia.
The North American Slime-Moulds
Thomas H. (Thomas Huston) MacBride
The color is bright blue when young, becoming pale and whitish in age, with a tendency to fuscous on the center.
Studies of American Fungi. Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, etc.
George Francis Atkinson
It is of a pale yellowish color, becoming a dusky brown (fuscous) when bruised.
Among the Mushrooms
Ellen M. Dallas and Caroline A. Burgin

British Dictionary definitions for fuscous

fuscous

adjective

of a brownish-grey colour

Word Origin for fuscous

C17: from Latin fuscus dark, swarthy, tawny

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for fuscous

adj.

"dark-colored," 1660s, from Latin fuscus "dark, swarthy" (see dusk).