frowsty
Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- adjective Having a musty, stale, or stuffy odor.
Examples
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So, after hitting my head violently against a cross-beam, I stumbled down some steps and entered a frowsty little place smelling of spilt beer and stale tobacco.
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She took out the thimble and looked at it again in the dim, swaying interior of the frowsty carriage.
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Alas, the taverns reputation declined over the years and by 1775 Garrick was referring to the frowsty bowers of the Dog and Duck as peopled with half-drunk fauns and dryads breaking lamps.
Note
'Frowsty' is chiefly a British term and may be a blend of 'frowzy,' in a state of disorder, and 'musty,' moldy, sour. It may also come from the Old French 'frouste,' ruinous, decayed.
