Part 466

Rust, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rusted; p. pr. & vb. n. Rusting.] [AS. rustian.] 1. To contract rust; to be or become oxidized.

If gold ruste, what shall iron do?

Chaucer.

Our armors now may rust.

Dryden.

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?

Dryden.

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.

Shak.

2. Fig.: To impair by time and inactivity. Johnson.

Rust"ful (?), a. Full of rust; resembling rust; causing rust; rusty. "Rustful sloth." Quarles.

Rus"tic (?), a. [L. rusticus, fr. rus, ruris, the country: cf. F. rustique. See Rural.] 1. Of or pertaining to the country; rural; as, the rustic gods of antiquity. "Rustic lays." Milton.

And many a holy text around she strews, That teach the rustic moralist to die.

Gray.

She had a rustic, woodland air.

Wordsworth.

2. Rude; awkward; rough; unpolished; as, rustic manners. "A rustic muse." Spenser.

3. Coarse; plain; simple; as, a rustic entertainment; rustic dress.

4. Simple; artless; unadorned; unaffected. Pope.

Rustic moth (Zoöl.), any moth belonging to Agrotis and allied genera. Their larvæ are called cutworms. See Cutworm. -- Rustic work. (a) (Arch.) Cut stone facing which has the joints worked with grooves or channels, the face of each block projecting beyond the joint, so that the joints are very conspicuous. (b) (Arch. & Woodwork) Summer houses, or furniture for summer houses, etc., made of rough limbs of trees fancifully arranged.

Syn. -- Rural; rude; unpolished; inelegant; untaught; awkward; rough; coarse; plain; unadorned; simple; artless; honest. See Rural.

Rus"tic, n. 1. An inhabitant of the country, especially one who is rude, coarse, or dull; a clown.

Hence to your fields, you rustics! hence, away.

Pope.

2. A rural person having a natural simplicity of character or manners; an artless, unaffected person. [Poetic]