English

Proper noun

Rusty

1. A male given name

Usage notes

Rusty may be a nickname for a person named Russell, or for someone with rust-colored skin or hair.

English

Adjective

rusty ‎(comparative rustier, superlative rustiest)

1. Marked or corroded by rust. [from 9th c.]
2. Of the rust color, reddish or reddish-brown. [from 14th c.]
   • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody, chapter I:

     Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with […] on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.

3. Lacking recent experience, out of practice, especially with respect to a skill or activity. [from 16th c.]
   • 2010 December 29, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0-1 Wolverhampton”, in BBC:

     Before the match, Hodgson had expressed the hope that his players would be fresh rather than rusty after an 18-day break from league commitments because of two successive postponements.

4. (now chiefly historical) Of clothing, especially dark clothing: worn, shabby. [from 17th c.]
   • 1911, Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson:

     He wore a black jacket, rusty and amorphous.

Derived terms

• rusty nail
• Rusty (nickname)

Translations

Etymology 2

Variant form of resty; compare also reasty.

Adjective

rusty ‎(comparative more rusty, superlative most rusty)

1. Discolored and rancid; reasty. [from 16th c.]

   rusty bacon‎

Anagrams

• yurts