Adjacent Words

Musty definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MUS'TY, a. [from must.] Moldy; sour; foul and fetid; as a musty cask; musty corn or straw; musty books.
1. State; spoiled by age.
The proverb is somewhat musty.
2. Having an ill flavor; as musty wine.
3. Dull; heavy; spiritless.
That he may not grow musty and unfit for conversation.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: covered with or smelling of mold; "moldy bread"; "a moldy (or musty) odor" [syn: moldy, mouldy, musty]
2: stale and unclean smelling [syn: fusty, musty, frowsty]

Merriam Webster's

adjective (mustier; -est) Etymology: ⁴must Date: 1530 1. a. impaired by damp or mildew ; moldy b. tasting of mold c. smelling of damp and decay ; fusty 2. a. trite, stale <musty prose> b. (1) antiquated <musty customs> (2) superannuated Synonyms: see malodorous • mustily adverb • mustiness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. (mustier, mustiest) 1 mouldy. 2 of a mouldy or stale smell or taste. 3 stale, antiquated (musty old books). Derivatives: mustily adv. mustiness n. Etymology: perh. alt. f. moisty (MOIST) by assoc. with MUST(2)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Musty Mus"ty, a. [Compar. Mustier; superl. Mustiest.] [From L. mustum must; or perh. fr. E. moist. Cf. Must, n., Moist.] 1. Having the rank, pungent, offencive odor and taste which substances of organic origin acquire during warm, moist weather; foul or sour and fetid; moldy; as, musty corn; musty books. --Harvey. 2. Spoiled by age; rank; stale. The proverb is somewhat musty. --Shak. 3. Dull; heavy; spiritless. ``That he may not grow musty and unfit for conversation.'' --Addison.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Something that is musty smells old and damp. ...that terrible musty smell. = fusty ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Mouldy, fusty, sour, fetid, rank, foul, spoiled, stale, frowzy. 2. Stale, old, hackneyed, trite, threadbare. 3. Vapid, ill-flavored, stale, insipid. 4. Dull, heavy, spiritless, rusty.

Moby Thesaurus

ancient, antediluvian, antiquated, archaic, back-number, bad, bad-smelling, banal, bewhiskered, blasted, blighted, blown, bromidic, burning, bygone, cliched, common, commonplace, corny, crumbling, cut-and-dried, damp, decayed, despoiled, dilapidated, dirty, dusty, estral, estrous, estrual, fade, familiar, fecal, fetid, filthy, flyblown, foul, frowsty, frowsy, frowy, frowzy, fulsome, funky, fusty, gamy, gone to seed, graveolent, hackney, hackneyed, high, hoary, hot, ill-smelling, in heat, in must, in rut, maggoty, malodorous, mephitic, miasmal, miasmic, mildewed, mildewy, moldering, moldy, moss-grown, moth-eaten, mouldy, must, nidorous, noisome, noxious, obsolete, odorous, offensive, old hat, old-fashioned, olid, out of date, passe, platitudinous, putrid, rancid, rank, ravaged, reasty, reasy, reechy, reeking, reeky, repulsive, rotten, ruined, ruinous, rusty, rutting, ruttish, rutty, set, shopworn, smellful, smelling, smelly, smutted, smutty, sour, spoilt, squalid, square, stale, stenchy, stereotyped, stinking, stock, strong, stuffy, sulfurous, threadbare, time-scarred, timeworn, tired, trite, truistic, unoriginal, vile, warmed-over, weevily, well-known, well-worn, worm-eaten, wormy, worn, worn out, worn thin