fusty

[fuhs-tee]

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adjective, fus·ti·er, fus·ti·est.

having a stale smell; moldy; musty: fusty rooms that were in need of a good airing.
old-fashioned or out-of-date, as architecture, furnishings, or the like: They still live in that fusty, gingerbread house.
stubbornly conservative or old-fashioned; fogyish.

Origin of fusty

1350–1400; Middle English fusti, equivalent to fust (noun) < Old French: wine cask, tree trunk (< Latin fūstis stick, pole) + -y¹

Related formsfus·ti·ly, adverbfus·ti·ness, noun

Synonyms for fusty

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1. close, stuffy, oppressive; smelly, malodorous.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for fusty

damp, fetid, malodorous, musty, rank, stagnant, stale, stuffy, frowsty, stinky, antiquated, antique, archaic, boring, conservative, dated, dowdy, dull, old, old-time

Examples from the Web for fusty

Contemporary Examples of fusty

Any chance that fusty old uniform can get revamped into something more appropriately Batman-esque for the occasion?
Joe Biden on WikiLeaks Damage and More Sunday Talk
The Daily Beast Video
December 19, 2010
I know, I know—I feel like a fusty old crank merely posing the question.
Bonfire of the Inanities
Christopher Buckley
March 22, 2009

Historical Examples of fusty

As I love the facts of life more, I care less for fusty commentators.
A Labrador Doctor
Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
It seems so funny not to go to it, instead of moping in these fusty lodgings.
The Rough Road
William John Locke
Fusty, earlier foisty, is no longer used in its proper sense.
The Romance of Words (4th ed.)
Ernest Weekley
You would have us go and live in that damp, musty, fusty place?
Not Like Other Girls
Rosa N. Carey
The cab is fusty, the driver is sulky, the morning is foggy.
My Miscellanies, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Wilkie Collins

British Dictionary definitions for fusty

fusty

adjective -tier or -tiest

smelling of damp or mould; musty
old-fashioned in attitude

Derived Formsfustily, adverbfustiness, noun

Word Origin for fusty

C14: from fust wine cask, from Old French: cask, tree trunk, from Latin fūstis cudgel, club

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 fusty

adj.

"stale-smelling," late 14c., from Old French fusté "fusty, tasting of the cask," from Old French fuist "wine cask," originally "stick, stave," from Latin fustis "staff, stick of wood." Related: Fustiness.