russet
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: rŭsʹĭt
ipa: /ˈɹʌsɪt/
rhymes: -ʌsɪt
Forms: form: russets
Etymology: From Middle English russet, from Anglo-Norman russet, rossat, roset, and Middle French rosset, rousset (“reddish, reddish-brown; a rough wool cloth”), from Middle French rous, rus (“to rouse”) + -et (diminutive suffix); compare Late Latin rossetum, russetum, russeta (“rough wool cloth”), Latin russus (“red”) (from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ- (“red”)), Occitan rosseta (“rough wool cloth”).
Senses: examples: text: Rhacĭnus, ni; m. Plin[y] ex ῥάχινον, ob coloris ſimilitudinem. A fiſh of ruſſet colour.
ref: 1664, Francis Gouldman, “Rhacĭnus”, in A Copious Dictionary in Three Parts: I. The English before the Latin … II. The Latin before the English … III. The Proper Names of Persons, Places, and Other Things Necessary to the Understanding of Historians and Poets … The Whole Being a Comprisal of Thomasius and Rider’s Foundations, Holland’s and Holyoak’s Superstructure and Improvements …, London: Printed by John Field, →OCLC:
text: Many of theſe [turf-bogs] are capable of being converted by induſtry into excellent ground, and, where they occupy not too great a proportion of the land, they compenſate for their ruſſet or ſable hues by the abundance of fuel which they yield.
ref: 1805, James [Bentley] Gordon, chapter I, in A History of Ireland, from the Earliest Accounts to the Accomplishment of the Union with Great Britain in 1801. … In Two Volumes, volume I, Dublin: Printed by John Jones, 90, Bride-Street, →OCLC, page 6:
text: And I could tell / What form my dreaming was about to take. / Magnified apples appear and disappear, / Stem end and blossom end, / And every fleck of russet showing clear.
ref: 1914, Robert Frost, “After Apple-Picking”, in North of Boston, London: David Nutt, →OCLC, page 78:
glosses: A reddish-brown color.
examples: text: Of the various kinds of woollens, the cheapest appear to be those which are known by the names of ‘bluett,’ ‘russet,’ and ‘blanket.’ […] The second appears to have been almost uniformly an inferior article; but the third is the cheapest of all. The first two terms point to the colour of the stuff, blanket being undyed stuff. It seems that sometimes russet is understood to be cloth made from black wool.
ref: 1866, James E[dwin] Thorold Rogers, “On the Price of Textile Fabrics and Clothing”, in A History of Agriculture and Prices in England: From the Year after the Oxford Parliament (1259) to the Commencement of the Continental War (1793): Compiled Entirely from Original and Contemporaneous Records, volumes I (1259–1400), Oxford: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 575:
glosses: A coarse, reddish-brown, homespun fabric; clothes made with such fabric.
examples: text: Russet is the name of a group of apples with distinctive matt brown skin, often spotted or with a faint red flush, and of a flattened lopsided shape. The flesh is crisp and the apples keep well. The flavour is unusual and pearlike. Russets are used both for eating and for cooking.
ref: 2014, Alan Davidson, “apple”, in Tom Jaine, editor, The Oxford Companion to Food, 3rd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 30:
synonyms: russeting
coordinate_terms: reinette
glosses: A variety of apple with rough, russet-colored skin.
examples: text: The cauſe of the curled diſease he attributes to potatoes being of late years produced from ſeed inſtead of roots as formerly. Such will not ſtand good more than two or three years, uſe what method you pleaſe. Laſt ſpring he ſet the old red and white ruſſets, and had not a curled potato amongſt them.
ref: 1817, “Agriculture”, in Encyclopaedia Britannica: Or, a Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature, 5th enlarged and improved edition, volume I, Edinburgh: Printed at the Encyclopædia Press, for Archibald Constable and Company; London: Gale and Fenner; York: Thomas Wilson and Sons, →OCLC, page 322, column 2:
text: Potatoes come in so many different shapes, sizes, colors, and types that you need to choose the right potato for the job—dry fluffy russets for baking or gnocchi, waxy reds for potato salads, buttery yellow Sieglinde and blue heirlooms for colorful mashes, French fingerlings to steam for fancy dinners.
ref: 2015, Cinda Chavich, “Potatoes”, in The Waste Not, Want Not Cookbook: Save Food, Save Money, and Save the Planet, Victoria, B.C.: TouchWood Editions, →ISBN, page 129:
glosses: A variety of potato with rough, dark gray-brown skin.