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Rust   /rəst/   Listen
noun
Rust  n.  
1.
(Chem.) The reddish yellow coating formed on iron when exposed to moist air, consisting of ferric oxide or hydroxide; hence, by extension, any metallic film of corrosion.
2.
(Bot.) A minute mold or fungus forming reddish or rusty spots on the leaves and stems of cereal and other grasses (Trichobasis Rubigo-vera), now usually believed to be a form or condition of the corn mildew (Puccinia graminis). As rust, it has solitary reddish spores; as corn mildew, the spores are double and blackish. Note: Rust is also applied to many other minute fungi which infest vegetation, such as the species of Ustilago, Uredo, and Lecythea.
3.
That which resembles rust in appearance or effects. Specifically:
(a)
A composition used in making a rust joint. See Rust joint, below.
(b)
Foul matter arising from degeneration; as, rust on salted meat.
(c)
Corrosive or injurious accretion or influence. "Sacred truths cleared from all rust and dross of human mixtures." Note: Rust is used in the formation of compounds of obvious meaning; as, rust-colored, rust-consumed, rust-eaten, and the like.
Rust joint, a joint made between surfaces of iron by filling the space between them with a wet mixture of cast-iron borings, sal ammoniac, and sulphur, which by oxidation becomes hard, and impervious to steam, water, etc.
Rust mite (Zool.), a minute mite (Phytopius oleivorus) which, by puncturing the rind, causes the rust-colored patches on oranges.


verb
Rust  v. t.  
1.
To cause to contract rust; to corrode with rust; to affect with rust of any kind. "Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them."
2.
Fig.: To impair by time and inactivity.


Rust  v. i.  (past & past part. rusted; pres. part. rusting)  
1.
To contract rust; to be or become oxidized. "If gold ruste, what shall iron do?" "Our armors now may rust."
2.
To be affected with the parasitic fungus called rust; also, to acquire a rusty appearance, as plants.
3.
Fig.: To degenerate in idleness; to become dull or impaired by inaction. "Must I rust in Egypt? never more Appear in arms, and be the chief of Greece?"





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Rust" Quotes from Famous Books



... houses stood empty on the hillsides, and every now and then he would see a tipple and an empty car, left as it was after dumping its last load of red ore. On the right, as he approached the station, the big furnace stood like a dead giant, still and smokeless, and the piles of pig iron were red with rust. The same little dummy wheezed him into the dead little town. Even the face of the Gap was a little changed by the gray scar that man had slashed across its mouth, getting limestone for the groaning monster of a furnace that was now at peace. The streets ...
— The Trail of the Lonesome Pine • John Fox, Jr.
... leave the books in dust, And oil the unused armour's rust, Removing from the wall The corslet ...
— The Golden Treasury - Of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language • Various
... there is life and peace and hope and prosperity, for in the solemn sacrifice of the voiceless grave can the chiefest lesson of the Republic be learned, and the destiny of its real mission be unfolded. So, bear with me while I lead you to the rust-stained slab, which for a third of a century—since Chickamauga—has been kissed by the sun as it peeped over the Blue Ridge, melting the tears with which the mourning night had ...
— America First - Patriotic Readings • Various
... favourite Thames! Indeed, I prefer nothing to Hagley but Mount Edgecombe. There is extreme taste in the park - the seats are not the best, but there is not one absurdity. There is a ruined castle, built by Miller, that would get him his freedom even of Strawberry: it has the true rust of the barons' wars. Then there is a scene of a small lake, with cascades falling down such a Parnassus 1 with a circular temple on the distant eminence; and there is such a fairy dale, with more cascades gushing out of rocks! and there- is a ...
— The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2 • Horace Walpole
... to see me here?" he said, as if he had forgotten all that had taken place. "I—I am astonished to see myself here! But I am so bored down there at Maisons, and I rust, rust, as little—little—ah! Stephanie said to me once at Odessa. So I came to breathe the air of Paris. A miserable idea! Oh, if you knew! When I think that that ...
— Prince Zilah, Complete • Jules Claretie


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