russet
Part of speech: noun
adj
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
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”).
Inflected forms:
form: russets
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: more russet
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most russet
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: russets
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: russeting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: russetting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: russeted
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: russeted
pos: verb
tags: past
form: russetted
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: russetted
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A reddish-brown color.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Rhacĭnus, ni; m. Plin[y] ex ῥάχινον, ob coloris ſimilitudinem. A fiſh of ruſſet colour.
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.
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.
gloss: A coarse, reddish-brown, homespun fabric; clothes made with such fabric.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: A variety of apple with rough, russet-colored skin.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: A variety of potato with rough, dark gray-brown skin.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
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.
gloss: Having a reddish-brown color.
pos: adj
examples: But looke, the Morne in Ruſſet Mantle clad, / Walkes o're the dew of yon high Eaſterne Hill, […]
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: […]
Arnak shook his heavy russet head, bemused.
gloss: Gray or ash-colored.
pos: adj
tags: archaic
examples: [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, […]
gloss: Rustic, homespun, coarse, plain.
pos: adj
examples: Hencefoorth my wooing minde ſhalbe expreſt / In ruſſet yeas, and honeſt kerſie noes.
gloss: The condition of leather when its treatment is complete, but it is not yet colored (stained) and polished.
pos: adj
examples: […] 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, […]
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.
gloss: Having a rough skin that is reddish-brown or greyish; russeted.
pos: adj
examples: Many apple varieties are mottled or russet, with a rough, dull skin hiding crisp, flavorful flesh.
gloss: To develop reddish-brown spots; to cause russeting.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
usually
examples: Pear psylla causes damage when nymphs, feeding at high densities on leaves, produce enough honeydew to drip onto the fruit. A black, sooty mold fungus then grows into the honeydew, distorting and russeting the fruit surface, which substantially lowers its commercial value, […]
Cultivars differ greatly in their propensity to russet: the characteristic is heritable but more than one factor seems to be involved[…].
I surprised my own amazement in the looking glass / where the resinous radiance of a chandelier / russeted the chaise longue and the chiffonier. / Autumn lay over everything I loved.
Derived words: russetish
russetlike
russetness
russety
Translations: