Etymology From Middle English rusty, from Old English rūstiġ (“rusty”), from Proto-Germanic *rustagaz (“rusty”), equivalent to rust + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian rusterch (“rusty”), West Frisian rustich, roastich (“rusty”), Dutch roestig (“rusty”), German Low German rusterig, rüsterig (“rusty”), German rostig (“rusty”), Swedish rostig (“rusty”).
1
Marked or corroded by rust.
The overall mood of this volume is one of melancholy and loss, weary resignation to one's lot—trudging round and round on the rusty hamster wheel of life.2002 June 28, Michiko Kakutani, “Books of the Times”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 07 Dec 2019, retrieved 23 Sep 2008:
2
Of the rust color, reddish or reddish-brown.
Alive? he might be dead for aught I know, / With that red gaunt and colloped neck a-strain, / And shut eyes underneath the rusty mane;1855, Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, section XIV:
Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with […] on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter I (Anarchy), pages 377–378:
3
Lacking recent experience, out of practice, especially with respect to a skill or activity.
Before the match, Hodgson had expressed the hope that his players would be fresh rather than rusty after an 18-day break from league commitments because of two successive postponements.2010 December 29, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0-1 Wolverhampton”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 17 Mar 2011:
4
Historical Of clothing, especially dark clothing: worn, shabby.
He wore a black jacket, rusty and amorphous.1911, Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson:
The clerk stared at him and the rusty black bonnet a moment, and then laughed.1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:
5
Affected with the fungal plant disease called rust.
Etymology Ellipsis of rusty one more often used for this, or from the general epithet rusty given to various particular firearm names—earlier both were applied in Cockney rhyming slang for other machines, including swords in their day, but the present coinage has not more than a loose connection to this and is from the preference for used or antique firearms due to their being easier or cheaper to obtain.
My angles dusty, two black hands on the rusty And I got uck from a peng ting, mad back but the chest busty2014 August 25, Dimzy of 67, “Outside”, 1:29–1:35:
rusty
adj
Etymology Variant form of resty; compare also reasty.