rusty1
[ruhs-tee]
- covered with or affected by rust.
- consisting of or produced by rust.
- of or tending toward the color rust; rust-colored.
- faded or shabby; impaired by time or wear, as clothes or drapery.
- impaired through disuse or neglect: My Latin is rusty.
- having lost agility or alertness; out of practice: I am a bit rusty at tennis.
- (of a sound) grating or harsh.
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Origin of rusty1
rusty2
[ruhs-tee]
- restive; stubborn: a rusty horse.
- Chiefly Dialect. ill-tempered; cross.
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Origin of rusty2
Rusty
[ruhs-tee]
- a male or female given name.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
decayed, rusted, deficient, impaired, neglected, sluggish, soft, stale, unqualified, weak, unpracticedExamples from the Web for rusty
Contemporary Examples
But, still, week after week, Addison lived in a Dili hostel waiting for the rusty wheels of Timorese justice to set her free.
Let’s Free Stacey Addison, The Oregon Woman Jailed at the Ends of the EarthChristopher Dickey
October 30, 2014
Across the world, a rusty World War II fort floats off the English coast.
Discovering Underground Labyrinths, Remote Cities, and More of the World’s Lost PlacesNina Strochlic
July 8, 2014
Rusty and squeaky, in need of maintenance and oil, the tank had not lost its destructive skills.
His cause, like a rusty old jalopy, is falling apart before he turned the key.
“The chemical aspect of Spice is unique and new,” Rusty Payne, spokesperson for the DEA tells me.
Historical Examples
A few seconds more and he heard the creaking of rusty hinges.
Howard Pyle's Book of PiratesHoward Pyle
But Mr Verloc was not in the least conscious of having got rusty.
The Secret AgentJoseph Conrad
If there are yellow streaks in the lean of the bacon, it is rusty, and unfit to eat.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various BranchesEliza Leslie
Moreover, the coach suited the day: the rusty was in harmony with the dismal.
The door had not been opened in a number of years, and the hinges were rusty.
Frank Roscoe's SecretAllen Chapman
rusty
- covered with, affected by, or consisting of rusta rusty machine; a rusty deposit
- of the colour rust
- discoloured by agea rusty coat
- (of the voice) tending to croak
- old-fashioned in appearance; seemingly antiquateda rusty old gentleman
- out of practice; impaired in skill or knowledge by inaction or neglect
- (of plants) affected by the rust fungus
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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 rusty
adj.
Old English rustig; see rust (n.) + -y (2). Cognate with Frisian roastich, Middle Dutch roestich, Dutch roestig, Old High German rostag, German rostig. "In the 16th and 17th centuries frequently used as a term of general disparagement" [OED]. Of bodily skills, "impaired by neglect," from c.1500; of mental qualities, accomplishments, etc., first attested 1796.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper