fustic

[ fuhs-tik ]

/ ˈfʌs tɪk /

noun

the wood of a large, tropical American tree, Chlorophora tinctoria, of the mulberry family, yielding a light-yellow dye.

the tree itself.

the dye.

any of several other dyewoods.

Nearby words

fusspot, fussy, fustanella, fustet, fustian, fustic, fustigate, fustinella, fusty, fusula, fusuma

Origin of fustic

1425–75; late Middle English fustik < Middle French fustoc < Arabic fustuq < Persian pistah; akin to Greek pistákē pistachio tree

Also called old fustic (for defs 1–3).

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

Examples from the Web for fustic

Any yellow wood can be improved by an alcoholic solution of Persian berries, fustic, turmeric, or gamboge.
French Polishing and Enamelling|Richard Bitmead
Give the goods a mixed mordant of acetate of alumina and acetate of iron, followed by a bath of madder or of madder and fustic.
Cooley's Cyclopdia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades..., Sixth Edition, Volume I|Arnold Cooley
The only tree among these latter of which use is made is the mora, or fustic of commerce.
Salvador of the Twentieth Century|Percy F. Martin
For colours, fustic or sumach are the usual mordants, with tartar emetic to fix.
Animal Proteins|Hugh Garner Bennett

Considerable quantities of lime and magnesia in the water will cause duller shades with logwood and fustic dyeings.
Principles and Practice of Fur Dressing and Fur Dyeing|William E. Austin

British Dictionary definitions for fustic

fustic

/ (ˈfʌstɪk) /

noun

Also called: old fustic a large tropical American moraceous tree, Chlorophora tinctoria

the yellow dye obtained from the wood of this tree

any of various trees or shrubs that yield a similar dye, esp Rhus cotinus (young fustic), a European sumach

Word Origin for fustic

C15: from French fustoc, from Spanish, from Arabic fustuq, from Greek pistakē pistachio tree

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