fust

Meanings

Noun

• A strong musty smell; mustiness.
• The shaft (main body) of a column.
• A type of small galley.

Verb

• To turn mouldy, to decay.
• Of wine: to acquire an undesirable musty or woody taste from the cask in which it is stored.

Origin

• Borrowed from Old French fust ("wood; bole, tree trunk") (modern French fût), from Latin fūstis ("knobbed stick, cudgel, club"), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- ("to hit") or *gʷʰen-.
• Possibly from Portuguese fusta ("fust"), from Latin fusta ("beam (of wood)"), from fūstis; compare Middle French fuste.