rust 
I should have endured in silence the rust and cramp of 
my best faculties. Charlotte Bronte, Professor, iv. 
Just so much work as keeps the brain from rust. 
Browning, Ring and Book, II. 66. 
Black rust, a fungus with dark-colored spores which at- 
tacks the leaves and stems of wheat and other cereals and 
of various grasses ; the tinal or teleutospore stage of Puc- 
cinia graminis, or grain-blight. Red rust, a common 
fungus, Puccinia graminis, which attacks wheat, oats, and 
other kinds of grain. See barberry-fungus, Puccinia. 
rust 1 (rust), r. [< ME. rusten, < AS. *rustian 
(not authenticated, the one instance cited by 
Lye involving the adj. rustig, rusty) = D. roes- 
ten = MLG. rosten, rusten = OHG. rosten, MHG. 
G. rosten = Sw. rosta = Dan. ruste, rust ; from 
the noun.] l.intra>is. 1. To contract or gather 
rust; be oxidized. 
Adieu, valour ! rust, rapier ! be still, drum ! for your 
manager is in love. Shak., I.. 1.. ! ., i. :.'. 187. 
It is especially notable that during the rusting of quick- 
silver, as indeed of all other metals, there is a very appre- 
ciable increase of weight in the substance operated on. 
Huxley, Physiography, p. 76. 
2. To assume an appearance of rust, or as if 
coated with rust. 
This thy son's blood cleaving to my blade 
Shall rust upon my weapon, till thy blood, 
Congeal'd with this, do make me wipe off both. 
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., i. 3. 51. 
But, when the bracken rusted on their crags, 
My suit had wither'd. Tennyson, F.dwln Morris. 
3. To degenerate in idleness; become dull 
through inaction. 
Then must I rust in Egypt, never mor 
Appear in arms, and be the chief of G 
5280 
The earliest application of the rustic hand appears in the 
papyrus rolls recovered from the ruins of HerculaniMun 
(Exempla, tabb. 1-3), which must necessarily be earlier 
than 7a A. 1>. Encyc. Brit., XVIII. 152. 
Prison rustic ashler. See asMer, 3. Rough-faced 
rustic work. See rough!, Rustic joint, in masonry, a 
square or chamfered sunken Joint between blocks. Rus- 
tic moth, one of certain noctnid moths; any noctuid: 
an English collectors' name : as, the rosy rustic moth, Hy- 
drcecia micacea. See II., 4. Rustic pieces, in decora- 
tive art, a phrase employed in various uses to note close 
imitation of nature, and also decoration outside of the re- 
ceived canons of the day. In the first sense, the pottery 
of Palissy, decorated with lizards, fish, and the like, molded 
from nature, is known as rustic pottery (Jigulines runtiques}. 
Rustic quoins. See quoin, i. Rustic shoulder- 
knot a British moth, Apamea baalinea. Rustic ware, 
in modern ceram. manuf. , a terra-cotta of a buff or light- 
brown pastehavingabrown glaze, sometimes mottled with 
green : used especially for balustrades, cornices, and simi- 
lar architectural ornaments, fountains, flower- vases, etc. 
Rustic work, (a) In masonry : (1) Stonework of which 
the face is hacked or picked in holes, or of which the 
courses and the separate blocks are marked by deep cham- 
more 
f Greece? 
Dryden, Cleomenes, i. 1. 
My Youth may wear and waste, but it shall never rust 
in my Possession. Congrece, Way of the World, ii. 1. 
Neglected talents rust into decay. 
Camper, Table- Talk, 1. 646. 
II. trans. 1. To cause to contract rust. 
Keep np your bright swords, for the dew will rust them. 
Shak., Othello, i. 2. 69. 
Laid hand 
Upon the rusted handle of the gate, 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 175. 
2. To impair by time and inactivity. 
rust 2 t, * * An obsolete variant of roost 1 . Pals- 
grave. (Hallitccll.) 
rust-ball (rust'bal), H. One of the yellow lumps 
of iron ore that are found among chalk near 
Foulmire, in Cambridgeshire, England. Hal- 
liwcll. 
rust-colored (rust'kul"ord), a. Of the color of 
iron-rust ; ferruginous. 
rustful (rust'ful), a. [< rimft + -fid.'] Rusty ; 
tending to produce rust ; characterized by rust : 
as, "rustful sloth," Quarlea. 
rust-fungus (rntrfung'gus), . See rust-mite. 
rustic (rus'tik), a. and . [Early mod. E. rustick; 
< OF. rustiqite (vernacularly ruiste, rustre, > E. 
roister), F. riistiqiie = Pr. rustic, rostic, ruste = 
Sp. rustico = Pg. It. nistico, < L. rusticus, be- 
longing to the country, < riis (rur-), the coun- 
try: see rural.'] I. a. 1. Of or belonging to the 
country or to country people ; characteristic of 
rural life; hence, plain; homely; inartificial; 
countrified: as, rustic fare ; rustic gaxb. 
Forget this new-fall'n dignity, 
And fall into our rustic revelry. 
Shak., As you Like it, v. 4. 183. 
He once was chief in all the rustic trade ; 
His steady hand the straightest furrow made. 
Crabbe, Works, I. 10. 
Ye think the rustic cackle of your bourg 
The murmur of the world ! Tennyson, Geraint 
2. Living in the country; rural, as opposed 
to town-bred ; hence, unsophisticated ; artless ; 
simple; sometimes in a depreciatory sense, 
rude; awkward; boorish. 
Yield, rustic mountaineer. Shak. , Cymbeline, iv. 2. 100. 
As the Turks sit crosse-legged, so doe they on their 
heels : differing little in habit from the rustic* /Egyptians. 
Sandys, Travailes, p. 109. 
And many a holy text around she strews, 
That teach the rustic moralist to die. 
Gray, Elegy. 
3. Made of rustic work, especially in wood. 
See rustic icork, below. 
I would have everything as complete as possible in the 
country, shrubberies and flower gardens, and rustic seats 
innumerable. Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, vi 
4. In anc. Latin manuscript, noting letters of 
one of the two oldest forms, the other being 
the square. The rustic letters are as accurately formed 
as the square or lapidary letters, but are lighter and more 
slender, with the horizontal strokes more or less oblique 
and curved. These letters, being easier to form, were more 
generally used than the square in Homan manuscripts 
from the first to the fifth century, at which time both 
forms were generally superseded by the uncial writing. 
B 
Rustic Work. 
A, plain ; B. beveled ; C, vermiculated ; D, frosted. 
f ered or rectangular grooves. Work of the former class is 
sometimes termed rockwork, and the phrase rustic work is 
by some restricted to masonry of the latter class. The 
varieties of rustic work are named according to the way in 
which the face is treated, or from peculiarities of the 
salient edge. Chamfered rustic work has the edge of the 
salient panel beveled to an angle of 135 with the face, so 
that the beveling of two adjacent blocks forms a right 
angle at the joint. Frosted work displays a fine and 
even roughness. Punctured work is characterized by ir- 
regular holes or lines of holes. Stalactittd work is formed 
by an ornamentation resembling agglomerated icicles. 
Vermiculated work is tooled in contorted or worm-shaped 
lines. (2) Any wall built of stones of different sizes and 
shapes fitted together, (b) In woodwork, summer-houses, 
garden furniture, etc., made from rough limbs and roots of 
trees arranged in fanciful forms. Sussex rustic ware. 
See wares. = Syn. 1 and 2. Pastoral, Bucolic, etc. See 
rural. 2. Countrified. 
II. . 1. One who lives in the country; a 
countryman; a peasant; in a contemptuous 
use, a clown or boor. 
While words of learned length and thundering sound 
Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around. 
(Joldtmith, Des. Vil., 1. 214. 
You must not, madam, expect too much from 
my pupil : she is quite a little rustic, and knows ^ 
nothing of the world. Miss Burney, Evelina, iv. 
2. Rustic work. 
Then clap four slices of pilasters on 't, 
That, laced with bits of rustic, makes a front. 
Pope, Mm al Essays, iv. 34. 
3. In ceram. , a ground picked with a 
sharp point so as to have the surface 
roughened with hollows having sharp 
edges, sometimes waved, as if imitat- 
ing slag. 4. In cutom., a noctuid or 
rustic moth: as, the northern rustic. 
Agrotis lucentea; the un- 
armed rustic, A. inermis. 
rusticalt (rus'ti-kal), a. 
and . [= Sp. rustical 
= It. rusticate ; as rustic 
+ -a?.] I. a. Eustic. 
Heisof artts(icaJcut,I know 
not how : he doth not carry 
himself like a gentleman of 
fashion. 
/>'. Jonson, Every Man in his 
[Humour, iU. 1. 
Our English courtiers . . . have infinitely refined upon 
the plain and rustical discourse of our fathers. 
Scott, Monastery, xiv. 
II. n. A rustic. 
Let me intreat you not to be wroth with this rustical 
Credit me, the north wind shall as soon puff one of your 
rocks from its basis as ... the churlish speech of an un- 
taught churl shall move the spleen of Piercie Shafton. 
Scott, Monastery, xix. 
rustically (rus'ti-kal-i), adv. In a rustic man- 
ner; in a manner characteristic of or befitting 
a peasant; hence, rudely; plainly; inelegantly. 
He keeps me rustically at home. 
Shak., As you Like it, 1. 1. 7. 
The pulpit style [in Germany] has been always either 
rustically negligent, or bristling with pedantry. 
De Qulncey, Rhetoric. 
rusticalness (rus'ti-kal-ues), n. The character 
of being rustical ; rudeness; coarseness; want 
of refinement, liailey, 1727. 
rusticate (rus'ti-kat), v.; pret. and pp. rusti- 
cated, ppr. rusticating. [< L. ruxtifatiis, pp. of 
rusticHri (> It. nisticare = Pg. rusticar = F. 
Unarmed Rustic (Afratis 
inermis). 
<*. egg , greatly enlarged ; b, 
eggs, natural size, in position 
upun twig. 
rusticola 
nitstiqucr), live in the country, < riixliciix. of the 
country: see rustic."} I. intrtnis. To dwell or 
reside in the country. 
My lady Scudamorc, from having rusticated in your com- 
pany too long, pretends to open her eyes for the sake of 
seeing the sun, and to Bleep because it is night. Pope. 
II. trans. 1. To send to the country ; induce 
or (especially) compel to reside in the country ; 
specifically, to suspend from studies at a col- 
lege or university and send away for a time by 
way of punishment. See rustication. 
The monks, who lived rusticated in their scattered mon- 
asteries, sojourners in the midst of their conquered land, 
often felt their Saxon blood tingle in their veins. 
/. D'Israeli, Amen, of Lit., I. 83. 
At school he was flogged and disgraced, he was disgraced 
and rusticated at the university, he was disgraced and ex- 
pelled from the army. 
Thackeray, Fitz- Boodle's Confessions. 
2. In masonry, to form into rustic work. 
II . . . a tower la to be built, the lower storey should 
not only be square, but should be marked by buttresses 
or other strong lines, and the masonry rusticated, so as to 
convey even a greater appearance of strength. 
J. Ferirusson, llist. Arch., I. 26. 
rusticated (rus'ti-ka-ted), j>. a. [Pp. of rusti- 
cate, t'.] In building, rustic. 
To the south of the west entrance, the earth has been 
dug away, and I saw a rusticated wall three feet eight 
inches thick, built with two rows of stone in breadth, 
clamped together with irons. 
Pococke, Description of the East, I. 23. 
Rusticated ashler. See ashler, 3. 
rustication (rus-ti-ka'shon), n. [= Sp. rustica- 
cion, < L. rusticatio(n-), a living in the country, 
< rusticari, live in the country: see rusticate.] 
1. The act of rusticating, or the state of being 
rusticated; residence, especially forced resi- 
dence, in the country ; in universities and col- 
leges, the punishment of a student for some 
offense by compelling him to leave the institu- 
tion, and sometimes also compelling him to re- 
side for a time in some other specified place. 
Mrs. Sydney is delighted with her rustication. She has 
suffered all the evils of London, and enjoyed none of its 
goods. Sydney Smith, To Francis Jeffrey. 
To have touched upon this this spring . . . would either 
have been the means of abridging my exile, or at least 
would have procured me a change of residence during my 
rustication. Scott, Rob Hoy, xiii. 
And then came demand for an apology ; refusal on my 
part ; appeal to the dean : convocation ; and rustication of 
George Savage Fitz-Boodle. 
Thackeray, Fitz-Boodle's Confessions. 
2. In arch., that species of masonry called rustic 
work (which see, under rustic) Prismatic rus- 
tication, in Elizabethan architecture, rusticated mason- 
ry with diamond-shaped projections worked on the face 
of every stone. T. R. Smith, Handbook of Architecture, 
'Gloss. 
rusticity (rus-tis'i-ti), n. ; pi. rusticities (-tiz). 
[< OF. rusticite, F. rusticile = Pr. rvaticitat, 
rustat = Sp. rusticidad = Pg. rusticidade = It. 
rnsticita, < L. rusticita(t-)s, rusticity, < rusticus, 
rustic: see rustic.] 1. The state or character 
of being rustic ; rural existence, flavor, appear- 
ance, manners, or the like; especially, sim- 
plicity or homeliness of manner; and hence, 
in a bad sense, ignorance, clownishness, or 
boorishnoss. 
Honestie is but a defect of Witt, 
Respect but meere Ilusticitic and flownerie. 
Chapman, All Fools (Works, 1878, 1. 134). 
The sweetness and rusticity of a pastoral cannot be so 
well expressed in any other tongue as in the Greek, when 
rightly mixed and qualified with the Doric dialect. 
Addison, On Virgil's Georgics. 
I ... have alone with this right hand subdued barbar- 
ism, rudeness, and rusticity. 
Swift, Polite Conversation, Int. 
2. Anything betokening a rustic life or origin; 
especially, an error or defect due to ignorance 
of the world or of the usages of polite society. 
The little rusticities and awkwardnesses which had at 
first made grievous inroads on the tranquillity of all . . . 
necessarily wore away. Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, ii. 
rusticize (rus'ti-siz), v. t.; pret. and pp. rusti- 
ci:('d, ppr. msticiziiig. [< rustic + -ize.~] To 
make rustic ; transform to a rustic. 
Rusticized ourselves with uncouth hat, 
Bough vest, and goatskin wrappage. 
Browning, Ring and Book, II. 104. 
rusticly (rus'tik-li), adv. [< rustic + -fy 2 .] In 
a rustic manner; rustically. 
To you it seemes so (rustickly) Aiax Oileus said ; 
Your words are suited to your eyes. Those mares leade 
still that led. Chapman, Iliad, xxiii. 416. 
rusticola (rus-tik'o-lii), n. [NL., supposed to 
be a mistake for rwtteula, fern. dim. of L. rus- 
ticus, rustic : see rustic. Otherwise an error for 
rurirola, < L. rus (rur-), the country, + colere, 
inhabit.] 1. An old book-name of the Euro- 
