fustier

Adjective

fusty (comparative fustier, superlative fustiest)

1. Moldy or musty.
2. Stale-smelling or stuffy.
   • I rather vvonder vvhat Charms a VVoman of any Spirit can fancy in a Nunnery, in vvatching, vvorking, praying, and ſometimes, I am afraid, vviſhing for other Company than that of an old fuſty Friar— […]1732 June 11 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Henry Fielding, The Old Debauchees. A Comedy. […], London: […] J. W[atts a]nd sold by J. Roberts […], published 1732, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page...
3. (broadly, figuratively) Old-fashioned, refusing to change or update.
   • In contrast to exploitation or suppression or even alienation, involution is presented as part of the natural order of things—like bad weather. You can’t point fingers at an abstraction or rally against a fusty term from an anthropology text.2021 May 14, Yi-Ling Liu, “China’s “Involuted” Generation”, in The New Yorker

   Synonyms:

   oldfangled, outdated, anachronistic, antediluvial, antediluvian, antiquated, antique, archaic, backward, backwards

4. Tasting of the cask.
   • Now consider what happens when that flavor is not fresh lemon but scorched garlic or some fusty wine. Unpleasant flavors are distributed at the same molecular level as good ones.2015, Susan Volland, Mastering Sauces […] , W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN