russet
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: rŭsʹĭt
ipa: /ˈɹʌsɪt/
rhymes: -ʌsɪt
Forms: form: more russet
form: most russet
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: But looke, the Morne in Ruſſet Mantle clad, / Walkes o're the dew of yon high Eaſterne Hill, […]
ref: c. 1599–1601, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act I, scene i, page 153, column 2:
text: Oh, long may thoſe, bleſt Cherry-Tree, / Whoſe generous hearts incircle thee, / A deſtiny ſo partial ſhare, / As actual bliſs and fancied care! / And long as theſe fair woodbines twine / Around this ruſſet coat of thine, / May I to all thy friends be join'd / In fondeſt union of the mind: […]
ref: 1786 November, [Samuel Jackson] Pratt, “The Cherry-Tree”, in The Scots Magazine, volume XLVIII, Edinburgh: Printed by Murray and Cochrane, →OCLC, page 556, column 2:
text: Arnak shook his heavy russet head, bemused.
ref: 2015, Alison Gardiner, chapter 15, in The Serpent of Eridor, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Matador, →ISBN, page 104:
glosses: Having a reddish-brown color.
examples: text: [W]hen they him ſpie, / As Wilde-geeſe, that the creeping Fowler eye, / Or ruſſed^([sic – meaning russet])-pated choughes, many in ſort / (Riſing and cawing at the guns report) / Seuer themſelues, and madly ſweepe the skye: / So at his ſight, away his fellowes flye, […]
ref: c. 1590–1597, William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act III, scene ii, pages 151, columns 1–2:
glosses: Gray or ash-colored.
examples: text: Hencefoorth my wooing minde ſhalbe expreſt / In ruſſet yeas, and honeſt kerſie noes.
ref: c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC; republished as Shakspere’s Loves Labours Lost (Shakspere-Quarto Facsimiles; no. 5), London: W[illiam] Griggs, […], [1880], →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
glosses: Rustic, homespun, coarse, plain.
examples: text: […] I received some bales of leather, that when I sent them to the Currier's to wax them, they having been at the Currier's before, as they came up in the russet state, when I had sent them back to be waxed, he sent me back word they were so badly tanned, and so burnt in the tanning, he could not recommend them, […]
ref: 1813 June, “Duty on Leather: Report from the Select Committee on the Petitions Relating to the Duty on Leather”, in The Literary Panorama, being a Compendium of National Papers and Parliamentary Reports, Illustrative of the History, Statistics, and Commerce of the Empire; a Universal Epitome of Interesting and Amusing Intelligence from All Quarters of the Globe; a Review of Books, and Magazine of Varieties, Forming a Complete Annual Register, volume XIII, London: Printed by Cox and Baylis, Great Queen Street, for C. Taylor, No. 108, Hatton Garden, Holborn, page 720:
text: Usually the London leather trade exhibits little animation during the latter part of June, but this year a fair general business was transacted at Leadenhall. […] [I]n curried leather, russet butts and middlings, kip butts of bright manufacture, calf skins, light grain, prime Cordovan, and harness appear in considerable request.
ref: 1871 July 22, “Commercial Epitome”, in The Economist, Weekly Commercial Times, Bankers’ Gazette, and Railway Monitor: A Political, Literary, and General Newspaper, volume XXIX, number 1,456, [London]: [Economist Office], →OCLC, page 885, column 1:
glosses: The condition of leather when its treatment is complete, but it is not yet colored (stained) and polished.
examples: text: Many apple varieties are mottled or russet, with a rough, dull skin hiding crisp, flavorful flesh.
ref: 2015, Jennifer A. Jordan, “Remembering Applies”, in Edible Memory: The Lure of Heirloom Tomatoes & Other Forgotten Foods, Chicago, Ill.; London: University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 98:
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
glosses: Having a rough skin that is reddish-brown or greyish; russeted.