russets

Noun

russet (countable and uncountable, plural russets)

1. A reddish-brown color.
   • Rhacĭnus, ni; m. Plin[y] ex ῥάχινον, ob coloris ſimilitudinem. A fiſh of ruſſet colour.1664, Francis Gouldman, “Rhacĭnus”, in A Copious Dictionary in Three Parts: I. The English before the Latin … II. The Latin before the English … III. The Proper Names of Persons, Places, and Other...
2. A coarse, reddish-brown, homespun fabric; clothes made with such fabric.
   • 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...1866, James E[dwin] Thorold Rogers, “On the Price of Textile Fabrics and Clothing”, in A History of Agriculture and Prices in England: From the Year after the Oxford Parliament (1259) to the...
3. A variety of apple with rough, russet-colored skin.
   • 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.2014, Alan Davidson, “apple”, in Tom Jaine, editor, The Oxford Companion to Food, 3rd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 30

   Synonyms:

   russeting

4. A variety of potato with rough, dark gray-brown skin.
   • 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...1817, “Agriculture”, in Encyclopaedia Britannica: Or, a Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature, 5th enlarged and improved edition, volume I, Edinburgh: Printed at the Encyclopædia...

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