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Rust

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rust¹

  • /ɹʌst/ UK, US
  • /ɹʊst/ Northern England
  • /ɾʌst/ Scotland, Wales

Rhymes with -ʌst

Where it comes from

From Middle English rust, rost, roust, from Old English rust, rūst (“rust”), from Proto-West Germanic *rust, from Proto-Germanic *rustaz (“rust”), from Proto-Indo-European *rudʰso- (“red”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ- (“red”).

Cognate with Scots roust (“rust”), Saterland Frisian rust (“rust”), West Frisian roast (“rust”), Dutch roest (“rust”), German Rost (“rust”), Danish rust (“rust”), Swedish rost (“rust”), Norwegian rust, ryst (“rust”), Finnish ruoste, Estonian rooste. Related to red.

noun rusts

  1. countable, uncountable The deteriorated state of iron or steel as a result of moisture and oxidation; it consists mostly of iron(III) oxide (ferric oxide) and iron(II) oxide (ferrous oxide). The rust on my bicycle chain made cycling to work very dangerous.
  2. countable, uncountable A similar substance based on another metal. copper rust
  3. countable, uncountable A reddish-brown color.
  4. countable, uncountable A disease of plants caused by a reddish-brown fungus (Pucciniales).
  5. countable, uncountable Damage caused to stamps and album pages by a fungal infection.

rust²

  • /ɹʌst/ UK, US
  • /ɹʊst/ Northern England
  • /ɾʌst/ Scotland, Wales

Rhymes with -ʌst

Where it comes from

From Middle English rusten, from the noun (see above).

verb rusts · rusting · rusted

  1. intransitive To oxidize, especially of iron or steel. The patio furniture had rusted in the wind-driven spray.
  2. transitive To cause to oxidize. The wind-driven spray had thoroughly rusted the patio furniture.
  3. intransitive To be affected with the parasitic fungus called rust. I am sorry to say that, contrary to the majority, I have to report that the forage rusted rather badly.
  4. ambitransitive, figuratively To (cause to) degenerate in idleness; to make or become dull or impaired by inaction. My knowledge of Spanish has rusted over the years.
  5. intransitive Of a black cat or its fur, to turn rust-coloured following long periods of exposure to sunlight. It's very common for black cats to rust during the summer.

Similar: oxidise, oxidize, corrode

Rust³

Where it comes from

* As an Alemannic German surname, from Rust

* As a German surname, from Middle Low German ruste, from Old Saxon rasta, from Proto-West Germanic *rastu, from Proto-Germanic *rastō (“rest, pause”).

* As an English and Scots surname, from Old English rust (“red, ruddy”), from Proto-Germanic *rustaz.

proper noun Rusts

  1. countable, uncountable A surname.
  2. countable, uncountable A township in Montmorency County, Michigan, United States.
  3. countable, uncountable A municipality in Ortenaukreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
  4. countable, uncountable A small city in Burgenland, Austria.

Rust⁴

Where it comes from

Graydon Hoare, who initiated the language, has stated that it was possibly named after rust fungi and may be related to robust.

proper noun

  1. A multiparadigm programming language focused on safety, especially safe concurrency. In Rust, the compiler plays a gatekeeper role by refusing to compile code with these elusive bugs, including concurrency bugs.

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