fuscous, a.
(ˈfʌskəs)
[f. L. fuscus dark, dusky + -ous.]
Of a dark or sombre hue; dusky, swarthy. (Chiefly Nat. Hist.)
| 1662 Ray Itin. in Rem. (1760) 247 The 5 or 6 first Feathers of the Wing above of a dark or fuscous Colour, near Black. 1671 J. Webster Metallogr. xvi. 235 A fuscous or darkish redness. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. ii. xvi, Sad and fuscous colours, as black, or brown, or deep purple. 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. 282 Fuscous, a dull brown. 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 210 Back fuscous brown, with four lines of white spots. 1848 J. Gould Birds Austral. Descr. pl. 44 Ptilotis fusca, Fuscous Honey-eater. 1853 De Quincey Wks. (1862) XIV. 390 The other sad, fuscous, begrimed with the snuff of ages. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 57 Seeds fuscous acutely tubercled. |
| fig. 1855 De Quincey Lett. 31 July in H. A. Page Life (1877) II. xviii. 106 Some confused remembrance I had that we were or ought to be in a relation of hostility, though why I could ground upon none but fuscous and cloudy reasons. |