▪ I. ˈmusky, n.1
A playful shortening of musk-rat (sense 1).
| 1884 Chamb. Jrnl. 1 Nov. 704/1, I saw the dead musky being carried off. |
▪ II. musky, n.2
(ˈmʌskɪ)
Also muskie.
Short for muskallonge (see maskinonge).
| 1894 Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 453/1 We were then all ready for old musky to begin his real fight. 1902 Scribner's Mag. XXXI. 534 The familiar term, with which sportsmen have come to know him, the musky. 1928 Game Fishes of Canada 12 The next most definite cult among the anglers are those who devote themselves to muskies. 1936 G. Clark Which we Did i. 20 Jimmie Frise..was successfully commissaried by me to our favorite muskie water for the closing day of the season. 1962 Times 12 Apr. 7/3 Waterways full of bass, northern pike and muskies. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. 40/1 They recaptured these previously marked fish: 13 walleyes, three smallmouth bass, 11 largemouth bass, but not one musky. 1975 G. V. Higgins City on Hill ix. 215, I should spend my days..going after muskies and telling lies when I didn't catch any. |
▪ III. musky, a.
(ˈmʌskɪ)
Also 7 muskie.
[f. musk n. + -y.]
1. Smelling, or tasting of musk; having a taste or smell like that of musk; perfumed with musk.
| c 1610 Rowlands Terrible Batt. 13 A Muskie-Gentle, we did visit then, A Silken Gallant. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 502 Muske is made of a certaine beast called Gudderi,..which once in the Moone sheddeth his muskie bloud. 1634 Milton Comus 989 West winds, with musky wing About the cedar'n alleys fling Nard, and Cassia's balmy smels. 1769 Sir W. Jones Palace Fortune Poems, etc. (1777) 15 The floating ringlets of his musky hair. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 34 The musky seeds of Hibiscus Abelmoschus. 1849 Thackeray Pendennis xxv, Holding a most musky pocket-handkerchief up to his face. 1888 Graphic 21 Jan. 54 The musky flesh of the animal [sc. a crocodile]. |
| fig. 1858 Emerson Lett. & Soc. Aims, Persian Poetry Wks. (Bohn) III. 247 The garden flowers are never wanting in these musky verses. 1901 Henley in Pall Mall Mag. Oct. 262 [Rossetti] His musky, strenuous, high-piled achievements in words. |
b. As a specific name for animals and plants.
| 1781 Pennant Hist. Quadrup. II. 476 Shrew, Musky... Muscovy or Musk rat. 1822 Hortus Anglicus II. 82 Ajuga Iva. Musky Bugle. 1885 Cassell's Encycl. Dict., Musky-mole, Scaptochirus moschatus. [= musk-mole: see musk n. 4 e.] |
2. Of an odour, taste, etc.
| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 775 Some rich sables of muskie sent. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 47/2 A Musk Pear..is..of a Musky Taste. 1746 Hervey Medit. (1818) 107 The musky flavour of the apricot. 1862 Burton Bk. Hunter i. 44 A sort of indistinct slightly musky perfume, like that said to frequent Oriental bazaars. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 228 It does not remove the musky taste from crocodile. |
| Comb. 1831 Tennyson Anacreontics in Germ 131 With roses musky-breathed. 1866 Treas. Bot. s.v. Adoxa, The musky-scented flowers. |
Hence ˈmuskiness, the quality of being musky; a musky odour or taste.
| 1727 in Bailey vol. II. 1755 in Johnson; and in later Dicts. |