▪ I. rust, n.1
(rʌst)
Forms: α. 1– rust, 4–6 ruste, 6 rost. β. 4, 6 roust, 5–6 rouste; 5 rowste, 6 rowst.
[OE. r{uacu}st (? and rust), = Fris. rûst, rust, roast, MDu. and Du. roest, OS. rost (MLG. rost, rust, LG. rust, rüst), OHG. and G. rost; also (from MLG.) MDa. rost, r{obar}st, MSw. and Sw. rost, Da., Norw., and Fær. rust. The pre-Teutonic *rudhs-to- is based upon the stem *rudh- (see rud n.1 and red a. and n.1), whence ON. ryð (and ryðr) rust; a different grade of this is represented by L. rōbīgo, rūbīgo.
The length of the vowel in OE., in whatever way it may have originated, is proved by the mod. dial. forms roust, rowst (rāst, raist) and Sc. roost, but the form with short u may also have existed at an early date. The vowel of Du. roest has not been satisfactorily accounted for.]
1. a. A red, orange, or tawny coating formed upon the surface of iron or steel by oxidation, esp. through the action of air or moisture; also, by extension, a similar coating formed upon any other metal by oxidation or corrosion.
| α c 725 Corpus Gloss. E 297 Erugo, rust. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. vi. 19 In eorðo ðer..rust & mohða..ᵹespilled bið [sic]. ? a 1030 Rule St. Benet (Logeman, 1888) 108 Þæt he na to swiðe ne ᵹewilniᵹe upawyrtlian rust oððe om. a 1225 Ancr. R. 160 Ne beo neuer so briht..iren, ne stel þet hit ne schal drawen rust. c 1325 Metr. Hom. (1862) 105 It clenses man of sinful lust, Als fire clenses iren of rust. 1382 Wyclif Ezek. xxiv. 6 Woo..to the pot whos rust is in it, and the rust therof wente not out of it. c 1400 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483) iv. xxxiv. 83 Bras draweth soone ruste yf it be not clensid. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione ii. iv. 44 Like as yren put in þe fire lesiþ his rust, & shal be made briȝt. 1530 Palsgr. 264/2 Rust of yron or any other metall, enrovillevre. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iii. iii. 116 His glittering Armes he will commend to Rust, His barbed Steedes to Stables. 1668 Charleton Onomast. 302 Coeruleum, the Blew Rust of Silver. 1676 D'Urfey Mme. Fickle iii. i, We..can by the Rust on a Sword tell how long it has been durable. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters III. 297 The iron begins to separate, and falls like rust to the bottom. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France I. 224 The tomb of Antenor..venerable with rust. 1819 Shelley Cenci ii. i. 70 When the rust Of heavy chains has gangrened his sweet limbs. 1853 Sir H. Douglas Milit. Bridges (ed. 3) 380 Some of the iron wires..had become corroded by rust. |
| β 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2018 Þe rynges rokked of þe roust, of his riche bruny. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 445 Roust destroyeþ iren. 14.. Pol., Rel., & L. Poems (1903) 257 Ase þe worm on þe treo,..and roust on þe knife. 1549 Compl. Scot. vii. 70 The glaspis var fast lokkyt vitht rouste. 1595 Duncan App. Etym. (E.D.S.), Rubigo, rowst. |
b. In
fig. uses or contexts.
| 1600 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. ii. 246, I were better to be eaten to death with a rust, than to be scoured to nothing with perpetuall motion. 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 36 A miser loues not him that craues his due:..such men..loue their Conscience rest lesse then their rust. 1737 Pope Hor. Epist. ii. i. 36 Authors, like coins, grow dear as they grow old; It is the rust we value, not the gold. 1752 Hume Polit. Disc. xii. 204 Perhaps rust may grow to the springs of the most accurate political machine, and disorder its motions. 1812 Examiner 9 Nov. 716/1 His voice would perhaps have been a..good one, had it not been prematurely exerted:—as it is, there is a general rust about it. 1863 Tyndall Heat iii. 55 Carbon acid may be regarded as the rust of the body, which is continually cleared away by the lungs. |
c. ellipt. Rust-cement (Ogilvie
Suppl. 1855).
d. slang. Money.
| 1858 Mayhew Paved with Gold iii. v, There's no chance of nabbing any rust (taking any money). |
e. A period of rusting.
rare—1.
| 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. iv. xiii, As if his money had turned bright again, after a long long rust in the dark. |
2. a. Moral corrosion or canker; corruption.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxxvii. 268 Ne meahte mon him of animan ðone miclan rust. 1435 Misyn Fire of Love 99 Þe sawle þat it takis with blyst fyre is purgyd, & in it bidys no rust ne fylþ. c 1440 Pol., Rel., & L. Poems (1903) 218 Thowȝe I have been oniust,..I hope to Rube A-waye the Ruste, with penaunce, frome my gostely syhte. 1577 St. Aug. Manual E ij b, From canckred rust Christ shall make iust. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iii. ii. 172 How he glisters Through my Rust? and how his Pietie Do's my deeds make the blacker? |
b. With defining word or phrase.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxxvii. 268 He wolde from us adon ðone rust urra unðeawa, ac we..nyllað alætan from us ðæt rust ðara unnyttra weorca. c 1400 Love Bonavent. Mirr. (1908) 274 He..enflawmeth her hertes goostly, consumynge al the rouste of mysbyleue. c 1440 Jacob's Well 234 Do oute þe ruste of ydell thouȝtys fro ȝoure herte. 1513 Douglas æneis iv. Prol. 166 Out on the, ald trat,..Eschamis na thing in roust of syn to ly! 1581 G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. (1586) ii. 117 Their mindes..are thereby..eaten as it were with the rust of idlenesse. 1621 R. Brathwait Nat. Embassie (1877) 126 Worse to the state then rust of flatterie. 1746 Francis tr. Horace, Art Poet. 369 When the rust of wealth pollutes the soul. |
† 3. Sc. Cankered malice; rancour.
Obs.| 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 163, I sall a ragment reveil fra the rute of my hert, A roust that is sa rankild quhill risis my stomok. 1533 Bellenden Livy i. xii. (S.T.S.) I. 71 All wayis þe sabinis persuadit mony of þe said pepill with small lauboure to assist to þare opinioun, throw roust and auld haterent of weris. |
† 4. The effacing effects
of time.
Obs.| 1533 Bellenden Livy i. ix. (S.T.S.) I. 52 At last þe memorye þareof perist be roust of ȝeris. Ibid. ii. ii. 134 Þare names be roust of ȝeris Is perist. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. I. 157/1 Which lawes with diuers other of like antiquitie are forgot and blotted out by rust of time. |
5. a. Any deteriorating or impairing effect or influence upon character, abilities, etc., especially as the result of inactivity.
| c 1000 Ags. Hom. (Assmann) xviii. 135 ærest ic wille beon ᵹefremed in littlum weorce, þæt ic mæᵹe sum rust on weᵹ adrifan of minre tungan. |
| a 1676 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. (1677) 3 A Man hath this advantage by the exercise of this Faculty about it, that it keeps it from Rust and torpidness. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 112 ¶1 Sunday clears away the Rust of the whole Week. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. i. §11 In rubbing off the rust and pedantry of a college education. 1796 W. H. Marshall W. Eng. II. 142 The rust of prejudice may not yet be sufficiently worn away. 1855 C. Brontë Villette vi, The eating rust of obscurity. 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. viii. 54 Just so much work as keeps the brain from rust. |
| fig. 1836–40 Haliburton Clockm. (1862) 251 It took the rust off of him pretty slick, you may depend. |
b. in rust: (see
quot.).
| 1889 Pall Mall G. 15 Jan. 5/1 If you are bent on looking out for actors ‘in rust’—namely, out of engagements. |
6. a. A disease in plants marked by ferruginous spots and caused by uredinous fungi; also loosely, any plant-disease presenting a similar appearance.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter lxxvii. 51 And he gaf til rust þe froitis of þaim, and þaire trauails til þe locust. 1563 T. Hill Art Garden. (1593) 28 When rust is falling on the hearbes, then Beritius in his husbandry instructions, willeth..to make a great smoake forthwith round about the garden. 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Añublo de trigo, rust of wheate, rubigo. 1759 Mills tr. Duhamel's Husb. i. xvi. 79 If rust attacks the corn whilst young.., the hurt is less. Ibid., If the infected wheat is washed by a plentiful rain, the rust disappears almost entirely. 1813 Vancouver Agric. Devon 156 The early wheats..are generally found free from the rust. a 1817 T. Dwight Trav. New Eng., etc. (1821) II. 341 A rust (as it is commonly called), of a brown hue, and an offensive smell. 1852 G. W. Johnson Cottage Gard. Dict. 794/1 Rust, a disease of the berries of the grape. It appears in the form of a rough, rusty appearance of their skins. 1876 Nature 28 Dec. 189/1 The disease known as ‘rust’ which has been causing great havoc among the sugar-canes in Queensland. |
b. One or other of the uredinous fungi producing ‘rust’ in plants.
Also used with
adjs., as
black rust,
brown rust,
red rust,
white rust.
| 1813 Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. (1814) 267 The propagation of mildew, funguses, rust, and the small parasitical vegetables. 1857 Henfrey Elem. Bot. 460 Species of Uredo, constituting the ‘blights’, ‘rusts’, &c., of corn and other cultivated plants. 1881 Whitehead Hops 58 There are special forms of these fungi, known as rust or brand. |
7. A coating or stain resembling rust.
| 1684 R. Waller Nat. Exper. 130 This stupifying of its force proceeds..rather from some fine Rust, or hoariness, as it were, contracted by the Amber, from the Salt. 1859 Tennyson Guinevere 73 The rust of murder on the walls. |
8. The colour of rust.
| 1716 Gay Trivia iii. 379 When the sun veil'd in rust his mourning head. 1893 Daily News 25 Mar. 6/1 The sky had turned from grey to a deep, malignant rust. |
9. Comb. a. Instrumental, objective, etc., as
rust-cankered,
rust-eaten,
rust-free,
† rust-fretten,
rust-stained,
rust-worn;
rust-preventing;
rust-bearded,
rust-complexioned.
| c 1440 Jacob's Well 121 Pore men..þat myȝte haue be releuyd wyth þi rust-fretyn monye. 1601 R. Chester Love's Martyr cxvi, Time that rust-cankard wretch. 1742 Jarvis Quix. i. i, A suit of armour, which..being mouldy and rust-eaten, had lain by, many long years, forgotten in a corner. 1744 J. Armstrong Art Pres. Health i. 180 The rust-complexion'd man..whose blood is dry. 1804 J. Grahame Sabbath (1808) 21 The blossoming pea, That climbs the rust-worn bars. 1868 Joynson Metals 124 There are still some rust-preventing substances which cannot well be included amongst the coatings. 1890 Conan Doyle White Company xix, The dark hard-faced cavalier in the rust-stained jupon. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 238 A sailorman, rustbearded, sips from a beaker. 1951 Whitby & Hynes Med. Bacteriol. (ed. 5) iii. 30 Iron in the form of rust-free filings..reduces the oxidation-reduction potential of liquid media. |
b. With other names of colours, as
rustblack,
rust-brown,
rust-red,
rust-yellow.
| a 1915 Joyce Giacomo Joyce (1968) 15, I kissed her stocking and the hem of her rustblack dusty skirt. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 105 It is a very beautiful animal,..of a rust-brown colour on the upper part of the body. 1977 Lancashire Life Nov. 56/2 By May 19 these were six [eggs]—tiny, white and rust-brown speckled. |
| 1832 J. Rennie Butterfl. & M. 84 Wings one inch one-fourth,..first pair yellowish, with rust-red bands. 1937 V. Woolf Years 297 The down was soft rust-red on its wings. a 1963 S. Plath Ariel (1965) 21 A sunken rust-red engine. |
| 1875 W. Morris in Mackail Life (1899) I. 313 A shade or two of rust-yellows or buffs. |
c. Special
Combs.:
rust-resistant,
-resisting adjs., (of a metal) made so as not to rust; (of a plant) not liable to rust disease; so
rust-resistance.
| 1911 Jrnl. Agric. Sci. IV. 99 Have any results of a definite progressive nature in the physiology of rust-resistance been yet obtained? 1940 J. C. Hudson Corrosion Iron & Steel ii. 10 The use of rust-resisting steels has hitherto..been confined to definite fields of service, in which rust resistance is of primary importance. 1947 Ann. Rev. Microbiol. I. 78 The population shifts of physiologic races show the practical need for extensive replication in time and space in testing varieties for stem rust resistance. |
| 1907 Jrnl. Agric. Sci. II. 127 In some countries a careful search has already been made for rust-resistant varieties, but on the whole, with comparatively little success from the economic point of view. 1930 H. Goldschmidt tr. Müller-Hauff & Stein's Automobile Steels iv. 142 Krupp was the first to use rust-resistant steel. 1947 Ann. Rev. Microbiol. I. 78 The case of Ceres wheat..illustrates this point. This rust-resistant variety was distributed in 1926, and by 1934 was grown on more than four million acres. 1964 Abraham & Straus Catal. Jan. 29 Rust-resistant, lightweight, aluminium ladder. |
| 1891 R. Wallace Rural Econ. Austral. & N.Z. iv. 72 A sample of rust-resisting wheat from Queensland. 1909 Chambers's Jrnl. Nov. 766/1 The steel used is a special light, thin, rust-resisting, seamless metal. 1962 Sci. Survey XXI. 332 ‘Stainless steel’ (more correctly ‘rust-resisting steel’) is now familiar in both domestic and industrial applications. |
10. attrib., as
rust-colour,
rust-ground,
rust-test,
rust-tint;
rust-ball (see
quot.);
Rust Belt U.S. [
belt n.1 5 a], the declining industrial heartland of Mid-West and North-East America,
spec. the area around Pittsburgh and other steel-producing towns;
rust bucket N. Amer. colloq., an old and rusty ship; also
Austral. colloq., a rusty old car;
rust-cement, a composition for joints which oxidizes on exposure to the air;
rust disease = sense 6 a;
rust-finish, a process in lacquering (see
quot.);
rust-fungus = sense 6 b;
rust hypha, a hypha of a rust fungus;
rust-joint, a joint made with rust-cement;
rust-mite, a gall-mite producing rust-like excrescences on plants.
| 1787 G. White Selborne iv, Among the blue rags turn up..every now and then balls of a friable substance, like rust of iron, called *rust balls. |
| [1984 W. Mondale in Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer 18 Sept. 1/1 Mondale pointed to Reagan as the culprit. ‘His..policies are turning our great industrial Midwest and the industrial base of this..country..into a rust bowl.’] 1984 Times 2 Nov. 7/1 Mr Mondale's nightmare is inspired by the once great but now decaying cities of the Frost Belt—or *Rust Belt, as he describes the old industrial heartland of the Mid-West and North-East. 1985 Harper's Mag. Jan. 62/1 In Pittsburgh, the capital of the Rust Belt, the battle for Gulf was the biggest story in town. |
| 1945 Seafarers' Log 8 June 2/2 C. M. Chaney, J. D. Riffle and R. R. Ullan were dispatched to one of the more notorious *rust buckets as Quartermaster and AB's respectively. 1959 Wall St. Jrnl. 13 Oct. (Eastern ed.) 1/6 To try to get the jump on the weather, ore carriers..‘will put every rust bucket that floats into the ore trade’. 1969 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 9 Nov. 15/4 (heading) Car trade-ins fit for scrap. Dealers stuck with ‘rust-buckets’. 1979 F. Forsyth Devil's Alternative 7 The Garibaldi an amiable old rust-bucket out of Brindisi. |
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 552 Cast-iron plates bolted together, and made tight with *rust-cement. |
| 1753 Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v., Their stalks..seem burnt up, and appear of a sort of *rust colour. 1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. iii. 88 It looks desolate just now that all is bare and the woods are rust-colour. |
| 1902 W. Watson Thompson's Gardener's Assistant (rev. ed.) II. 600/1 (Index), *Rust disease on vines—cause and treatment. 1975 Times 30 May 16/5 A team of scientists at Wye College has discovered in the tobacco plant a naturally produced fungicide effective against the ‘rust’ diseases which are commonly destructive to important food crops, vegetables and garden flowers. |
| 1884 C. G. W. Lock Workshop Rec. Ser. iii. 326/2 ‘*Rust finish’ is the name given to the operation which produces the relief work for the figures. |
| 1883 Science I. 369/2 The relations between the *rust-fungi and certain insects which visit their spermogonia. |
| 1853 Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 4) I. 345 [Calico] Goods padded in iron liquor, dried, and then padded in a solution of chlorine containing a little free-lime, acquire a good *rust ground. |
| 1909 W. Bateson Mendel's Princ. Heredity 25 Miss Marryat found that the *rust-hyphae are checked before entering the stomata of the resistant plants. |
| 1839 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. II. 436/1 The joints made with the basement plate in the usual way, either with a *rust joint, or lead, or other jointing. 1865 Gesner Treat. Coal, Petroleum, etc. (ed. 2) 173 In making rust-joints, as the iron cementing is called. |
| 1887 Pall Mall G. 7 Mar. 5/1 These guns were all exposed to the sand and *rust tests which in no way affected their efficiency. |
| 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 254 Elevated nodules of a salmon or *rust tint. |
▪ II. rust, n.2 rare—1.
[Back-formation from rusty a.2] Rusty or reasty bacon.
| 1845 Disraeli Sybil (1863) 129 There's a very nice flitch hanging up in the engine-room; the men wanted some rust for the machinery. |
▪ III. rust, n.3 colloq. [Back-formation from rusty a.3] to take (or nab) the rust, of a horse: To become restive.
| 1775 Colman Prose Sev. Occas. (1787) I. 201 On the second day his brown horse, Orator, took rust, ran out of the course, and was distanced. 1801 Sporting Mag. XVIII. 101 To nab the rust; a jockey term for a horse that is restive. 1837 P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 127 My horse..shied at a road waggon, and then ‘took the rust’, which I fetched out of him instanter. 1895 Rye E. Angl. Gloss. s.v. Reast, Some talk of a horse ‘taking reast or rust’,..meaning that he becomes restive. |
| transf. 1860 Slang Dict. (ed. 2) 204 ‘To nab the rust,’ to take offence. |
▪ IV. rust, v.1 (
rʌst)
Forms: α. 3
rusten, 5
ruston, 5–6
ruste, 4–
rust; 5–6
rost(e. β. 3–6
rouste;
Sc. 6
rowst, 8
roust.
[ME. rusten, rouste(n), f. rust n.1: cf. Fris. rûst-, rust-, roastsje, MDu. and Du. roesten, MLG. rusten (LG. rüsten), OHG. rostên (G. rosten); also (from G.), MDa. and Da. ruste, Norw. rusta, MSw. and Sw. rosta.] I. intr. 1. Of iron or other metals: To contract rust, grow rusty; to undergo oxidation.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 344 [To] leten þinges muwlen oðer rusten, oðer uorrotien. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 370/120 Ake þat tresor þat ich of telle, þat is heouene riche, Þat ne roustez ne a-peirez nouȝt. 1382 Wyclif Jas. v. 3 Ȝoure gold and siluer hath rustid. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 8182, I trowe that roste schal oure knyues, When we haue no bred for to kerue. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 11427 What ys the cause..That a swerd burnysshed cler, Somwhyle rusteth? 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 28 Were not proude clothing and also fleshely lust, All the fetters and gives of England should rust. 1530 Palsgr. 696/1 Your knyfe wyll ruste, and you wyppe it nat after salte meates. 1601 Shakes. All's Well iv. iii. 373 Rust sword, coole blushes, and Parrolles liue Safest in shame. a 1774 Goldsm. Surv. Exp. Philos. (1776) II. 35 In these places gold is actually found to rust. 1793 Cowper To Mary 11 Thy needles..Now rust disus'd, and shine no more. 1855 Tennyson Maud iii. vi. 26 No more shall..the cannon-bullet rust on a slothful shore. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 75 Although they do not rust at ordinary temperatures, they may be caused to rust more or less rapidly. |
b. To form a rust.
rare—1.
| 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, i. iii. 49 And this thy Sonnes blood cleauing to my Blade Shall rust vpon my Weapon. |
2. To deteriorate, degenerate, spoil,
esp. through inactivity or want of use. Also with
out.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 1568 Al þair luf þai gaue to lust, Þai did þair sauls all to rust. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 502 If a preest be foul, on whom we truste, No wonder is a lewed man to ruste. c 1425 Cast. Persev. 527 Who-so wyl drawe to Lykynge & Luste, & as a fole, in foly ruste. 1557 Edgeworth Serm. Repert., Better it is to shine with laboure, then to rouste for idlenes. 1629 Davenant Albovine i. i, Let now the knotty Laborer rust with ease. 1692 Dryden Cleomenes i. i, Then must I rust in ægypt, never more Appear in Arms? 1768–74 A. Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 303 When people come into a situation of perfect ease and security, with nothing ever to vex or ruffle them, they quickly rust in idleness. 1781 Cowper Table-T. 546 Neglected talents rust into decay. 1840 Chamb. Jrnl. 4 Apr. 88/1 Better to ‘wear out’ than to ‘rust out’ has been truly said. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 518 Most men would, in such a situation, have allowed their faculties to rust. 1885 Law Times LXXIX. 68/2 His fine abilities rusting from disuse. |
3. To become rust-coloured.
| 1541 R. Hyrde tr. Vives' Instruct. Chr. Wom. 22 b, All the fauour of the face waxeth olde, and the breth stynketh, and the tethe rusten. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. xc. iv, The hearb that early groweth,..Eu'ning change with ruine moweth, And laies to rost in withering aire. 1842 Tennyson E. Morris 100 When the bracken rusted on their crags. 1882 ‘Ouida’ Maremma viii. I. 191 The gold of the sun⁓flower wanes and rusts. |
4. Of wheat, etc.: To become affected with rust or blight.
| 1868 Rep. U.S. Commiss. Agric. (1869) 415 The wheat rusted badly on the blade and slightly on the stalk. |
II. trans. 5. To affect with rust; to oxidize.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. ix. 30 But at her feet her sword was likewise layde, Whose long rest rusted the bright steely brand. 1604 Shakes. Oth. i. ii. 59 Keepe vp your bright Swords, for the dew will rust them. 1644 Digby Nat. Bodies xv. (1658) 170 Brass and iron..are easily rusted by salts dissolving upon them. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The Air apparently rusts Bodies, but 'tis only in Virtue of the Water it contains. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 350 This gas..is evolved in every instance in which metals are tarnished or rusted by moisture. 1879 Proctor Pleas. Ways Sci. xv. 348 Its power of oxidizing or rusting metals..is much greater than that which oxygen possesses. |
b. fig. To render antiquated or obsolete.
| 1694 Addison Acc. Greatest Eng. Poets 13 Age has rusted what the Poet writ, Worn out his language, and obscured his wit. |
6. To corrupt or corrode morally or physically.
| 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 190 The Sire of Gods and Men..Himself did Handy-Crafts and Arts ordain, Nor suffer'd Sloath to rust his active Reign. c 1770 Beattie To Alex. Ross iii, Oh may the roupe ne'er roust thy weason. 1839 J. H. Newman Par. Serm. IV. xxii. 374 The breath of the world has a peculiar power in..rusting the soul. |
7. To affect (corn, etc.) with rust or blight.
| 1759 Mills tr. Duhamel's Husb. I. 85 Bad effects from feeding cattle with fodder which has been rusted. 1763 ― Syst. Pract. Husb. II. 409 When a hot sun has succeeded such dry hazy weather, the corn was rusted within a few days after. 1861 Times 24 Sept., Three-fourths of the crop [of hops] will be of the best quality; the remainder was rusted by spiders towards the end of last month. |
8. To make rust-coloured.
| 1801 Southey Thalaba viii. ii, The sun, and the wind, and the rain, Had rusted his raven locks. |
9. To waste
away by idling. Also
refl.| 1853 W. Jerdan Autobiog. III. vi. 67 [He] appeared..to be rusting away a life which might be serviceable to his country. 1887 M. E. Braddon Like & Unlike xii, We must not rust away our lives here. 1894 G. M. Fenn In Alpine Valley i. 36 I'm not going to rust myself away. |
▪ V. † rust, v.2 Obs.—1 [ME. rüsten, repr. OE. hrystan, var. of hyrstan.] trans. To ornament.
| c 1205 Lay. 25812 He bar..ænne sceld on his rugge irust al mid golde. |