▪ I. mustard, n.
(ˈmʌstəd)
Forms: 3 mustart, 3–5 mostard, 4–6 mustarde, 5–7 musterd, 6 musterde, mudsterd, 4– mustard.
[a. OF. moustarde, mostarde (mod.F. moutarde) = Pr., Catal., Pg., It. mostarda, Rumanian mostar, f. Com. Rom. mosto must n.1, whence Catal. mostassa, mostalla, Sp. mostaza mustard (as a condiment), Sp. mostear to spread mustard on. The name etymologically belongs to the condiment as originally prepared by making the ground seeds into a paste with must.
The Fr. word has been adopted into several Teut. langs., in some instances with assimilation of the ending to native suffixes: MDu. mostaert (Du. mostaard), MLG. mostert, mustert, MHG. mostert, musthart (G. mostert, mostrich).]
1. a. The seeds of black and white mustard (see sense 2) ground or pounded to a powder (often with admixture of other substances), sometimes called flour of mustard; also, this substance as made into a paste by the addition of water or vinegar, and serving as a condiment of extreme pungency, or applied to the skin as a rubefacient in the form of a poultice or plaster.
oil of mustard: a fixed oil obtained from mustard-seeds by pressure. essence of mustard: a volatile oil distilled from black mustard-seed; also, the commercial name of an embrocation containing mustard and other ingredients.
| 1289 Househ. Exp. R. De Swinfield (Camden) I. 19 In mostard .iiij.d. a 1300 Siriz 279 in Mätzner Altengl. Sprachpr. 111/1 Pepir nou shalt thou eten, This mustart shal ben thi mete. 13.. Metr. Hom. (Vernon MS.) in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr. LVII. 308 Summe smered hire Mouþ w{supt} oute with grounden Mustard. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 686 Furst set forthe mustard & brawne of boore. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 582/1 And now when hys argument is all made vp, ye shal find it as full of reason as an egge full of mustarde. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. ii. 156 Some think their conceits, like mustard, not good except they bite. 1786 Abercrombie Gard. Assist. Mar. 75 Flour of mustard. a 1834 Coleridge in Sir H. Davy's Rem. (1858) 80, I..having seen in an advertisement something about essence of mustard curing the most obstinate cases of rheumatism. 1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 439 Oil of Mustard..is expressed from the seeds of the sinapis alba and nigra. Ibid. 902 note, The mustard of the shops is said to be often mixed with wheat flour and cayenne pepper to heighten the flavour. 1867 Bloxam Chem. 479 The essence of mustard and that of horseradish are composed of C8H5NS2. |
b. With prefixed place-name or local
adj., indicating varieties of manufacture or preparation.
In the 16–17th c. Tewkesbury was the chief seat of mustard manufacture in England, but this industry is not now practised there.
| 1591 Nashe Saffron Walden D 4 b, A messe of Tewksbury mustard. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. vi. 262 His Wit is as thicke as Tewkesburie Mustard. 1834 M{supc}Culloch Dict. Comm. (ed. 2) 810 Mustard..was formerly extensively cultivated in Durham, but it is now seldom seen in that county. At present it is principally raised in the neighbourhood of York,..and being manufactured in the city of York, is afterwards sold under the name of Durham mustard. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 36/2 French mustard for the table is often prepared with vinegar. |
c. fig.| 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 44 Where her woordes seemd hony,..Now are they mustard. 1832 L. Hunt Sir R. Esher (1850) 126 As if the fighting they were going to have was not mustard enough to their beef. |
d. transf. Applied to substances resembling mustard (prepared for the table) in appearance.
| 1582 J. Hester Secr. Phiorav. iii. lxx. 96 Take this hearbe [Millefoil]..and put thereunto Bedellium, Frankensence, and common oile, and make thereof as it were a Mustarde. |
e. proverbial phrases:
esp. with reference to the pungency of mustard.
The use of
keen as mustard is anticipated by the expression
keenest mustard in
quot. 1658
s.v. keen a. (
adv.) 4.
| 1659 [see strong a. 15 b]. 1672 W. Walker Parœmiologia 25/1 As keen as mustard. 1679 ‘T. Ticklefoot’ Clod-Pate's Ghost 4/2 You shall see a man as hot as Mustard against Plot and Plotters. a 1732 Gay Songs & Ball., New Song of New Similes, My passion is as mustard strong. a 1886 Hobart Sk. Life (1887) 53, I returned, keen as mustard, to my ship. 1916 ‘B. Cable’ Doing their Bit ii. 36 They get as keen as mustard on it. 1932 R. Aldington Soft Answers 185 His famous Uncle Harold..had unfortunately died insolvent, owing to being as keen as mustard on the form of the Empire's horses and the forms of the Empire's barmaids. 1938 N. Marsh Artists in Crime ii. 13 He's as keen as mustard,..and he can talk of nothing but his work. |
f. The colour of the condiment,
usu. a brownish-yellow. Also
attrib. or as adj. Cf. mustard-coloured,
-yellow adjs.| 1848 [see Dandie Dinmont]. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 226 She stared at the large poster of Marie Kendall... Mustard hair and dauby cheeks. 1923 Daily Mail 17 Apr. 7 (Advt.), In shades of Jade, Mustard, Cherry, Nigger or Grey. 1951 E. Paul Springtime in Paris ii. 33 Most of the young coloured men, yellow, brown, snuff, mustard or ginger in hue, had white girls with them. 1965 J. Gale Clean Young Englishman iii. 101, I wore my demobilisation suede shoes and a mustard ferreting coat. 1969 G. Macbeth War Quartets 60, I rose against a full moon, sharp in mustard light. 1971 Vogue 15 Sept. 129/2 Coats..colours: orange, mustard, brick, royal. |
g. In
fig. phrases: that which enhances the flavour of anything, or adds piquancy or zest; the best of anything. Phr.
to cut the mustard: to accomplish, to succeed, to make good; to come up to expectations, to meet requirements.
slang (chiefly
U.S.).
| 1903 A. Adams Log Cowboy xv. 237 For fear they were not the proper mustard, he had that dog man sue him in court for the balance, so as to make him prove the pedigree. 1904 ‘O. Henry’ Cabbages & Kings vi. 101 I'm not headlined in the bills, but I'm the mustard in the salad dressing just the same. 1905 ‘H. McHugh’ You can search Me 17 Petroskinski is a discovery of mine, and he's all to the mustard. 1907 ‘O. Henry’ Trimmed Lamp 217 Why don't you invite him if he's so much to the mustard? 1907 ― Heart of West x. 163, I looked around and found a proposition that exactly cut the mustard. 1909 ― Roads of Destiny 99 ‘She cut the mustard,’ he said, ‘all right.’ 1922 C. Sandburg Slabs of Sunburnt West 7 Kid each other... Tell each other you're all to the mustard. 1923 Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves iv. 41 Never before had I encountered a curate so genuinely all to the mustard. 1930 ― Very Good, Jeeves iii. 70 Life at this juncture seemed pretty well all to the mustard. 1960 J. Mitford Hons & Rebels ix. 56 Perhaps I could get a job as a maid in somebody's house..but Idden convinced me I would never cut the mustard at this occupation. 1966 ‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 114 Nell was all to the mustard. On her first Sunday afternoon she sat with young Bob Marlow..and, when it was Herby Carter's Sunday, went for a spin with him in his..jinker... For Tom..she sat in the old creek-bed. 1968 Down Beat 7 Mar. 18/1 There, in the Apple, his skill was tested in competition with the established ones. If he couldn't cut the mustard, he became part of the anonymous mob. 1974 Citizen (Ottawa) 24 Aug. 78 What if it doesn't work out? What if I'm bored with it? What if I'm no good at it? What if I just can't cut the mustard? |
h. As
quasi-adj.: very good, keen, enthusiastic; thorough. Also (
fig.) hot, pungent.
| 1925 E. Wallace King by Night ix. 41 That fellow is mustard. 1931 T. R. G. Lyell Slang, Phrase & Idiom 537 To be mustard, to be excellent at anything. It must never be used of the female sex. 1936 Wodehouse Laughing Gas xvii. 186 Avoid actors. They are mustard. 1959 Times 19 June 16/3 He [a batsman] is mustard on anything a trifle short of a length. 1960 L. Cooper Accomplices i. vi. 62 He showed me..an extract from a report from..the F.B.I. There wasn't much of it but what there was was mustard. 1966 L. Southworth Felon in Disguise ix. 131 He could see the couple and what they were doing. ‘Blimey, she's mustard,’ he thought. 1972 Daily Express 4 July 6/8 Britain is particularly hot on calculus. The Russians and the East Germans are mustard on the theory of numbers and on solid geometry. 1973 ‘B. Mather’ Snowline xix. 231 You can wash out South Africa... They're mustard there. You couldn't smuggle in a grain of wheat. 1973 J. Wainwright Touch of Malice 62 ‘Careful, Charlie,’ warned Sanderson quietly. ‘He's mustard.’ ‘Not mustard,’ said Ripley. ‘Dynamite—’. |
2. a. The name of several species of cruciferous plants forming the Linnæan genus
Sinapis, but now included in the genus
Brassica;
esp. B. nigra, the black (or brown) mustard, and
B. alba, the white mustard (see 2 c).
Also
B. arvensis, wild (field or corn) mustard (also called
charlock);
B. juncea, Indian (Russian or Sarepta) mustard;
B. Pekinensis, Pekin mustard.
| 1340 Ayenb. 143 Þet zed o mostard is wel smal ac hit is wel strang and wel bitinde uor hit is hot ine þe uerþe degre ase ziggeþ þise fisiciens. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 349/1 Mustard, or warlok, or se(n)vyne, herbe.., sinapis. 1570 Pena & L'Obel Stirp. Adversaria (1576) 67 Sinapi sativvm Erucæ, aut Rapifolium... Ang. Mudsterd, Senbeye. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ix. 190 Sinapi syluestre. Wilde Mustard. 1691 Ray Creation ii. (1692) 73 As for the Mustard that sprung up in the Isle of Ely,..yet might it have been brought down in the Channels by the Floods. 1731 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Sinapi, The Species are; 1... Common or Red Mustard. 2... Garden or White Mustard. 3... Indian Mustard, with a Lettuce leaf. 1817 Neill in Edin. Encycl. XI. 274/2 White mustard (Sinapis alba)..is cultivated only as a small salad, and is used while in the seed-leaf, along with cresses. 1856 Gray Man. Bot. (1860) 36 Sinapis arvensis, L. (Field Mustard. Charlock.) 1875 Encycl. Brit. I. 384/1 The brown mustard is grown solely for its seeds, which yield the well-known condiment. 1884 Ibid. XVII. 112/2 Of these [species] the principal are the Black or Brown Mustard, Brassica nigra (Sinapis nigra, L.), the White Mustard, Brassica alba, and the Sarepta Mustard, B. juncea. |
b. Applied with defining word to various other (chiefly cruciferous) plants, resembling or supposed to resemble mustard in appearance, taste, etc.
bastard mustard = false mustard.
† candy mustard = candytuft.
false mustard,
Polanisia Graveolens (formerly
Cleome dodecandria).
† Grecian mustard, some plant of the family Thlaspideæ (‘
Thlaspi Græcum’, Gerarde).
old man's mustard,
Achillea Millefolium (Britten and Holland).
† peasant's mustard = boor's mustard (see
boor 4).
poor man's mustard,
Alliaria officinalis (Britten and Holland).
wild mustard, (
a) see 2; (
b)
Raphanus Raphanistrum (Britten and Holland);
† (
c) applied apparently to various mustards, as Treacle mustard, and Hedge mustard. See also boor's,
buckler, churl's, clown's,
dish,
garlic,
green,
hedge, knave's,
mithridate,
tansy,
tower,
treacle, wormseed-
mustard, etc.
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. xix. 206 Grecian Mustard hath many leaues spread vpon the ground, like those of the common Daisie. Ibid. Buckler Mustard... Small buckler Mustard. Ibid. xx. 207 Candie Mustarde excelleth all the rest. Ibid. xxi. 209 Pesants Mustarde. Ibid. Yellowe Mustard. Ibid. White Treacle Mustard. Ibid. 211 Thornie mustarde groweth vp to the height of fower cubites. 1611 Cotgr., Moustarde sauvage, treacle Mustard, wild Mustard, wild Sene. 1633 Gerarde's Herbal ii. xxi. 266 Round leaued Mustard hath many large leaues laid flat vpon the ground like the leaues of the wilde Cabbage. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 320 Mustard, Bastard, Cleome. 1845–50 A. H. Lincoln Lect. Bot. App. 144/1 Polanisia..graveolens, (false mustard..). 1853 G. Johnston Nat. Hist. E. Bord. I. 35 Sinapis arvensis. Wild Mustard.—Cornfields. |
c. mustard and cress: the plants white mustard and cress (
Lepidium sativum) used in the seed-leaf as a salad herb; also
fig. and
attrib. Sometimes grown in fancy pots, etc., as an ornament.
| 1824 Loudon Encycl. Gard. (ed. 2) §4029 Rape is cultivated in gardens as a small salad herb, to be..used in cresses and mustard. 1827 Hone Table Bk. I. 607 An ingenious contrivance to make mustard and cress seeds grow in pleasant forms over vessels and basketwork. 1831 Manning Let. 3 Apr. in Life I. 76 Six months of this rustic vegetation, and my cerebellum would put forth mustard and cress. Mod. Mustard and cress sandwiches. |
3. a. = mustard gas (see sense 4 c).
| 1918 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 7 Dec. 1911/2 (heading) Mustard (yellow cross) burns. 1937 A. M. Prentiss Chem. in War ii. 50 If sufficient effort is expended in finding more efficient ways of using it, mustard will undoubtedly yield far greater results. 1966 Science 5 Apr. 409/1 Mustard, bis(β-chloroethyl)sulfide, shared interest with a series of nitrogenous analogues. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. III. 44/2 Wet or perspiring skin absorbs more mustard than does dry skin. |
b. Pharm. Any of the group of substances that contains mustard gas and the nitrogen mustards (
cf. nitrogen b).
| 1946 Science 5 Apr. 412/1 The oxidation of pyruvate by brain brei was significantly inhibited by sulfur mustard. 1964 Brit. Med. Bull. XX. 91/1 The biological alkylating agents..include the sulphur and nitrogen mustards, epoxides, [etc.]. 1970 Nature 6 June 897/1 Quinacrine mustard makes part of the human Y chromosome fluoresce particularly brightly. |
4. attrib. and
Comb. a. attrib. quasi-adj. Of the nature of mustard, pungent.
| 1598 Marston Sco. Villanie i. ii, Sharp mustard rime, To purge the snottery of our slimie time. |
b. Obvious
Comb., as
mustard † -box,
† mustard-breaker,
mustard-coloured (
adj.),
mustard flour,
mustard-keen (
adj.),
mustard-maker,
mustard-mill,
† mustard quern,
mustard spoon,
mustard spoonful,
mustard-yellow; also in various names of appliances in which mustard is used remedially, as
mustard-plaster,
mustard-poultice (also
vb. trans.),
mustard vomit.
| 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2296/4 A Sugar Box, a Pepper Box, and a *Mustard Box without mark. |
| 1410 Will of Durem (Somerset Ho.), *Mustard brekers. |
| 1886 Mrs. E. Lynn Linton P. Carew xxiv, A *mustard-coloured envelope. |
| 1884 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 113/1 The mustard papers commonly used as rubefacients and vesicants are made from *mustard flour entirely deprived of its fixed oil. |
| 1935 G. Heyer Death in Stocks iii. 29 I'd had a letter from Arnold, and they were instantly *mustard-keen to see it. 1968 ‘J. J. Marric’ Gideon's River xviii. 162 Singleton's got the frogmen out already, the Warbler says he's mustard-keen. |
| c 1483 Caxton Dialogues 42/21 Nycholas the *mustard-maker. 1533 More Debell. Salem i. Wks. 933/2 A musterde maker in Cambridge. |
| 1609 Ev. Woman in Hum. i. i. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, I had as leef have heard the grinding of a *Mustard-Mill. |
| 1810 E. Weeton Let. 25 Feb. (1969) I. 235 *Mustard plasters and bottles of warm water were applied to the feet. 1866 S. Thomson Dict. Dom. Med. 356 The well known mustard plaster or cataplasm. 1869 ‘Mark Twain’ Sketches New & Old (1875) 46 That mustard-plaster of a newspaper. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 23 Dec. 4/1 It had lapels that were far too wide,..being what some tailors called ‘the mustard-plaster type’. 1975 D. Delman One Man's Murder v. 95 Let me go home early to a mustard plaster. |
| 1802 Med. Jrnl. VIII. 31 *Mustard poultices were applied to his feet. 1858 Dickens Let. to Miss Hogarth 18 Aug., I got home at half-past ten, and mustard-poulticed and barley-watered myself tremendously. |
| 1356 in Riley Memor. Lond. (1868) 284 *Mustarde quernes. 1694 Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1713) 129/2 Let them be ground in a Mustard-Quern. |
| 1890 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. III. 195 About a *mustard spoonful of dry pyro. |
| 1737 Monro in Med. Ess. Edinb. (ed. 2) II. 303 Her Disease seemed..at last to be almost cured by the Use of *Mustard Vomits. |
| 1904 Daily Chron. 30 Mar. 8/2 A certain shade of *mustard-yellow. |
c. Special combinations: as
mustard ball,
† (
a) mustard made into a ball; (
b)
dial. (see
quot. 1888);
mustard beetle, a beetle destructive to mustard plants;
† mustard-bowl, a wooden bowl in which mustard-seed was pounded, proverbially referred to as the instrument for producing stage thunder;
mustard bush,
Austral. (see
quot. 1965);
mustard cloth,
leaf,
paper, cloth or paper coated with mustard, etc. and used as a sinapism;
mustard gas, dichlorodiethylsulphide, (CICH
2CH
2)
2S, a colourless, oily liquid which is a powerful poison and vesicant, acting directly on the skin, and which was first used in warfare by the Germans in 1917, at Ypres;
mustard-oil, an oil obtained from mustard seed;
mustard shrub, a West Indian shrub,
Capparis ferruginea, bearing pungent berries;
mustard-stone Sc., a stone on or with which to beat or pound mustard seed;
† mustard-token,
app. a token given to purchasers of mustard, entitling them to a small repayment when a certain number have been accumulated; also
transf. as a term of contempt;
mustard-tree, (
a) the mustard of the
N.T., described as a ‘tree’ (see
mustard seed 1); (
b)
Austral. = mustard bush;
mustard weevil, a weevil which damages the white mustard plant,
Ceutorhyncus contractus;
mustard whey, a medicinal preparation of mustard (see
quot.).
| 1679 Oates Narr. Popish Plot 48 The Deponent saith, that by Tewxbury *Mustard-balls, we are to understand, Fire-balls. 1790 W. Dyde Tewkesbury ii. 5 Tewkesbury..was likewise remarkable for its mustard balls, which being very pungent, have occasioned this proverb,..‘He looks as if he lived on Tewkesbury mustard’. 1888 Sheffield Gloss., Mustard-ball, a leaden ball used in making sauce from sorrel and in bruising mustard seeds, &c. |
| 1890 E. A. Ormerod Injur. Insects (ed. 2) 151 *Mustard Beetle (‘Black Jack’), Phædon betulæ Linn. |
| 1728 Pope Dunc. ii. 226 'Tis yours to shake the soul With Thunder rumbling from the *mustard-bowl. 1764 H. Walpole Let. to Earl of Hertford 6 Feb., Lord North in vain rumbled about his mustard-bowl, and endeavoured alone to outroar a whole party. |
| 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 7 June 25/2 Another hardy northwesterner is the *mustard bush. It is of dwarf habit, with a dense growth of leaves relished by sheep. 1965 Austral. Encycl. II. 263/1 The mustard-bush or mustard-tree (Apophyllum anomalum), an almost leafless tree with small fragrant flowers, is an inland species whose young shoots have a somewhat mustard-like flavour; in spite of its wiry nature it is much relished by stock. |
| 1897 Trans. Amer. Pediatric Soc. IX. 101 He applied warm *mustard cloths to the body and extremities. |
| 1917 Nation (N.Y.) 15 Nov. 524/2 The Germans have just invented a new and particularly powerful weapon in their so-called ‘*mustard gas’. 1934 Discovery Feb. 32/1 As far as can be judged from the sample of casualties officially studied, one in thirty-eight of the British casualties from ‘mustard gas’ died and about one in four hundred was incapacitated for six months or longer. 1937 J. M. Murry Necessity of Pacifism v. 76 The sword of the Lord is broken in men's hands... The mustard-gas of the Almighty—it cannot be. 1973 G. Beare Snake on Grave xxvi. 160 Less than fifty years ago this place was a sea of blood and mud..scoured and sterilised by mustard gas. |
| 1879 Mrs. A. G. F. E. James Ind. Househ. Managem. 23 *Mustard leaves in a tin case. 1900 Eva C. E. Lückes Gen. Nursing x. (ed. 2) 129 Mustard leaves that are procured from a chemist are nearly always used now in preference to plasters. |
| 1850 Fownes' Man. Chem. (ed. 3) 539 *Mustard-oil. 1888 Sat. Rev. 11 Aug. 174 And what is a fish or a vegetable curry without mustard-oil? |
| 1874 Garrod & Baxter Mat. Med. (1880) 209 *Mustard Paper. |
| 1756 P. Browne Jamaica 247 The *Mustard Shrub. This plant is..strongly impregnated with an acrid volatile salt, like most of the mustard tribe, among whom it ought to be placed. |
| a 1550 Freiris Berwik 556 in Dunbar's Poems (S.T.S.) 303 He was sa ferce he fell owttour the sek, And brak his heid vpoun ane *mustard stane. |
| 1600 Dekker Shoomakers Holyday (1610) B 4 b, Peace you crackt groates, you *mustard tokens, disquiet not the braue souldier. 1622 Massinger & Dekker Virg. Mart. ii. iii, Ile rather part from the fat of them, then from a mustard-tokens worth of Argent. |
| 1844 Asiatic Jrnl. Ser. iii. III. 92 Prof. Royle read a paper on the *mustard-tree of Scripture. |
| 1893 Times 5 June 8/2 Miss E. A. Ormerod issues a note of warning that we are likely to have this year a widespread attack of the *mustard weevil. |
| 1789 W. Buchan Dom. Med. App. (1790) 705 *Mustard Whey. Take milk and water, of each a pint; bruised mustard-seed, an ounce and a half. Boil them together till the curd is perfectly separated; afterwards strain the whey through a cloth. |
▪ II. ˈmustard, v. rare.
[f. mustard n.] trans. To spread or season with mustard.
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 227 This sort of meat, sometimes profusely mustarded, is often eaten in the beer⁓shops with thick ‘shives’ of bread. |