musty
Part of speech: adj
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: The adjective is derived from Late Middle English musty; further origin uncertain, possibly from one of the following:
* From Anglo-Norman muste, moste, variants of moiste, muiste (“moist”), from Old French moiste (“clammy, damp, moist, wet”) (modern French moite (“muggy; sticky, sweaty”)), from a blend of Vulgar Latin *mucidus (from Latin mūcidus (“mouldy, musty”), from Old Latin mūceō (“to be mouldy or musty”) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’, forming adjectives)) + Latin mustum (“unfermented or partially fermented grape juice, must; new wine”) (from mustus (“fresh; young; unfermented”), from Proto-Indo-European *mus-, *mews- (“damp; moss”)).
* From another language derived from the above Latin words (compare the cognates below).
* A variant of Middle English mosty, moisti (“damp, humid, wet, moisty; of fruit: moist and juicy”) [and other forms] (perhaps influenced by must (“fruit (usually grape) juice which has been or will be fermented”)), from moist, moiste (“damp, humid; moist, wet; well-irrigated, well-watered; liquid; of ale: new; (figuratively) not withered, fresh; carnal, lascivious; raw, undisciplined”) (from Old French moiste: see above) + -i (suffix forming adjectives).
Compare Middle French moisi (“mouldy”), an adjective use of the past participle of moisir (“(to cause) to go mouldy, to moulder”) (modern French moisir), from Latin mūcēre, the present active infinitive of Old Latin mūceō (“to be mouldy or musty”): see above.
The English word is analysable as must (“mould; mustiness”) + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives); however, must is thought to be a back-formation from musty.
The noun and verb are derived from the adjective.
Cognates
* Catalan mústic, musti (“wilted, withered; gloomy, sad”)
* Galician murcho, mucho (“wilted, withered”)
* Old Occitan moste (Occitan moste, mosti, musti (“damp, wet”) (Gascon))
* Portuguese murcho (“wilted, withered; gloomy, sad”)
* Spanish mustio (“wilted, withered; gloomy, sad”)
Base: must
Affixes: -y
Inflected forms:
form: mustier
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: mustiest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
Senses:
gloss: Affected by dampness or mould; damp, mildewed, mouldy.
pos: adj
examples: [W]hẽ his wordes be wel ſifted, men ſhall find little fine flowre in thẽ, but all very muſtie branne, not worthy ſo muche as to fede either horſe or hogges.
O vve muſt not regard vvhat he ſaies man, a Trout, a ſhallovv foole, he ha's no more braine than a Butterflie, a meer ſtuft ſuit, he looks like a muſtie Bottle, nevv vvickerd, his head's the Corke, light, light.
[W]aſt thou faine poore father, / To houill thee vvith ſvvine and rogues forlorne, / In ſhort and muſtie ſtravv, alack, alack, / Tis vvonder that thy life and vvits at once / Had not concluded all, […]
[H]ave your vvorms vvell ſcovvred and not kept in ſovvre or muſtie moſs; […]
[C]ome prithee let's be gone out of this ungrateful Air of his old Houſe; a pox on't, I can ſmell the muſty Bed-mats, and Kitchen-dreſſers, above half a Mile before I come to't.
[I]n ſcarce and dear Times the Huſbandman hath little to ſell to advance his Stock, and the Buyers are uſually furniſhed vvith muſty bad Corn from Foreign Parts (vvho often buy our Corn vvhen cheap, and ſell it to us again vvhen dear) or from ſuch as vvere ignorant of the vvays of preſerving it.
Undaunted vvas my heart, nor could appal / The muſtieſt volume of the ſtall; / VVhere'er I turn'd, the giant ſpiders fled, / And trembling moths retreated as I read; […]
And pray, novv, tell me, hovv can it be vvorth one's beſt days, one's gayeſt hours, the very flovver of one's life—all to be ſacrificed to plodding over muſty grammars and lexicons, merely to cut a figure juſt for about tvvo minuts once or tvvice in a year?
At theſe laſt vvords, forth cravvl'd an ancient Dame, / Sharp-nos'd, half ſtarv'd, and Avarice her name; / […] / Sav'd of the muſtieſt bread the crumbs, and ſees / A dinner in the ſcrapings of a cheeſe: […]
Bradley assenting, went with him into an early public-house, haunted by unsavoury smells of musty hay and stale straw, […]
It was a thin book bound in faded morocco, with a copper-plate engraving as a frontispiece; the pages were musty with age and stained with mould.
Reize already has a strong and spirited jump, bounding higher than most every other fighter. That's what happens when you're not weighed down with all that musty, old armor!
gloss: Having an odour or taste of mould; also (generally), having a stale or unfresh odour or taste.
pos: adj
examples: musty food    musty furniture    a musty odour
You had muſty vittaile, and he hath holpe to eate it, he is a very valiaunt trencher man, he hath an excellent ſtomacke.
Being entertain'd for a perfumer, as I was ſmoaking a muſty roome, comes me the prince and Claudio, hand in hand in ſad conference: […]
Well, I haue almost mard their market, for Gentlemen especially, those that loue to smell sweete, for they are the worst Milliners in a kingdome, and their sutes beare the mustiest perfume of anything breathing, vnlesse it were an Usurers Night-cappe againe: […]
'Sbuds! this Veniſon is muſty.
He knovvs to live, vvho keeps the middle ſtate, / And neither leans on this ſide, or on that: / Nor ſtops, for one bad Cork, his Butler's pay, / Svvears, like Albutius, a good Cook avvay; / Nor lets, like Nævius, ev'ry error paſs, / The muſty vvine, foul cloth, or greaſy glaſs.
I was terribly afraid, from what I had heard of Blackwater Park, of fatiguing antique chairs, and dismal stained glass, and musty, frowzy hangings, and all the barbarous lumber which people born without a sense of comfort accumulate about them, in defiance of all consideration due to the convenience of their friends.
So, after a spell, he decided to make the best of it and shoved us into the front parlor. […] It looked like a tomb and smelt pretty nigh as musty and dead-and-gone.
It was a close, musty, ill-ventilated place, since its inmate seldom left it.
In the same category was the peculiar musty smell which pervaded the old City & South London Railway, the pioneer deep-level tube.
gloss: Characteristic of or relating to mould or mouldiness.
pos: adj
examples: Not knowing what "swipes" might be, I thought I would run the risk and try it; but it proved a miserable beverage, with a musty, sour flavor, as if it had been a decoction of spoiled pickles.
gloss: Of attitudes, ideas, writing, or other abstract things: no longer fresh or interesting; outdated, stale.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: An antiquarie is an honest man, for he had rather scrape a piece of copper out of the durt, than a crowne out of Plodion's standish. I know manie wise gentlemen of this mustie vocation, […]
[W]hile the graſſe grovves, the Prouerbe is ſomething muſty.
Have done, I beg you, vvith your muſty Reflections: You but interrupt the Examination.
gloss: Of a person: boring and unadventurous; also, old-fashioned, stuck in the past.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: [T]hey ſettle upon their ovvn dregs, and grovv muddy and muſty vvith long eaſe, and their proſperity befooleth them to their ovvn deſtruction.
[B]eing married to a bookish man, who has no knowledge of the world, she is forced to take their affairs into her own hands, and to spirit him up now and then, that he may not grow musty, and unfit for conversation.
My friend the doctor was a thorough antiquary: a little rusty, musty old fellow, always groping among ruins.
gloss: Bad-tempered, grumpy, irritable.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: The ill-vvounded Don Quixote vvas exceeding muſty and melancholy, vvith his face bound vp, and ſcarred not by the hand of God, but by the nayles of a Cat (misfortunes annexed to Knight Errantry) ſixe dayes paſt ere hee came abroad: […]
He is monſtrous vexed, and muſty, at my Cheſſe-play; […]
VVhat a devil makes thee in ſo muſty a humour? Thou art as dull and dumpiſh as a fellovv that had been drunk over night vvith Ale, and had done nothing but drunk Coffee, talked Politicks, and read Gazettes all this morning.
Here comes the muſty trader, running over vvith remonſtrances. I muſt banter the cit.
Derived words: must
mustied
mustily
mustiness
Translations: