Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small dioecious tropical American tree (Maclura tinctoria syn. Chlorophora tinctoria) having wood that yields a yellow dye.
  • noun The wood of this plant.
  • noun A dye obtained from the wood of this plant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A dyestuff, the product of Chlorophora (Maclura) tinctoria, a large urticaceous tree of the West Indies and tropical South America.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The wood of the Maclura tinctoria, a tree growing in the West Indies, used in dyeing yellow; -- called also old fustic.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A tropical American tree, Maclura tinctoria, whose wood produces a yellow dye.
  • noun A European tree, Eurasian smoketree, Cotinus coggygria, whose wood produces an orange dye.
  • noun The wood of these trees.
  • noun A yellow dye obtained from the wood of these trees.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English fustik, from Old French fustoc, from Arabic fustuq, from Greek pistakē, pistachio; see pistachio.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English, fustik; derived from Old French, fustoc; derived from Arabic, فستق (fustuq, "pistachio"); derived from Persian, فستق (fustuq, "pistachio").

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Examples

  • At last Friday pitched upon a tree, for I found he knew much better than I what kind of wood was fittest for it; nor can I tell, to this day, what wood to call the tree we cut down, except that it was very like the tree we call fustic, or between that and the Nicaragua wood, for it was much of the same color and smell.

    Robinson Crusoe Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731 1895

  • At last Friday pitched upon a tree, for I found he knew much better than I what kind of wood was fittest for it; nor can I tell, to this day, what wood to call the tree we cut down, except that it was very like the tree we call fustic, or between that and the Nicaragua wood, for it was much of the same color and smell.

    Robinson Crusoe 1895

  • This tree is sometimes called old fustic, in order to distinguish it from another commercial dye called young fustic, which is obtained in

    Catalogue of Economic Plants in the Collection of the U. S. Department of Agriculture William Saunders 1861

  • At last Friday pitched upon a tree; for I found he knew much better than I what kind of wood was fittest for it; nor can I tell to this day what wood to call the tree we cut down, except that it was very like the tree we call fustic, or between that and the Nicaragua wood, for it was much of the same colour and smell.

    Robinson Crusoe 1719

  • At last, Friday pitched upon a tree; for I found he knew much better than I what kind of wood was fittest for it; nor can I tell, to this day, what wood to call the tree we cut down, except that it was very like the tree we call fustic, or between that and the Nicaragua wood, for it was much of the same colour and smell.

    The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner, Volume 1 With an Account of His Travels Round Three Parts of the Globe, Written By Himself, in Two Volumes Daniel Defoe 1696

  • Other dye-stuffs, such as fustic, Persian berries and Alizarine yellow, are best dyed on a basic chrome mordant, which is effected when tartar or oxalic acid is the assistant mordant used, or when some other form of chrome compound than bichrome is employed.

    The Dyeing of Woollen Fabrics Franklin Beech

  • # -- Until within a comparatively recent time black was dyed on wool solely by the use of logwood, combined with a few other natural dye-stuffs, such as fustic, indigo, etc., but of late the researches of colour chemists have resulted in the production of a large number of black dyes obtained from various coal-tar products.

    The Dyeing of Woollen Fabrics Franklin Beech

  • By the 17th century, lumber operations had already begun to harvest the most sought-after woods including mahogany (probably Swietenia mahogani), cedar (Cedrela sp.), "palo brasil" (Haematoxylon sp.) and fustic (Chlorophora tinctoria).

    Cayos Miskitos-San Andrés and Providencia moist forests 2007

  • Peach leaves, fustic, and saffron, all make a good straw or lemon color, according to the strength of the dye.

    The American Housewife Containing the Most Valuable and Original Receipts in all the Various Branches of Cookery; and Written in a Minute and Methodical Manner Anonymous

  • These vessels might be laden back with spermaceti or other oils, seal skins, coals, ship-timber, fustic, or any other articles the produce of the settlements and the Southern Seas; and thus a traffic might be established and carried on with reciprocal benefit, and the independence of New South Wales must be greatly aided in consequence of these beneficial regulations.

    The Present Picture of New South Wales (1811) David Dickinson Mann

Comments

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  • "...two Port Royal sugar ships whose slowness had separated them from their convoy in the night, and three other West Indiamen with even more valuable cargoes of indigo, coffee, logwood, ebony, old fustic and hides that, being fast sailers, had chanced it on their own..."

    --Patrick O'Brian, The Reverse of the Medal, 71

    A Sea of Words: A yellow dye extracted from the wood of Chlorophora tinctoria, a tree native to America and the West Indies. (206)

    February 29, 2008

  • (n): any of various West Indian trees whose wood, called fustic, yields a yellow dye of the same name. Thus, the name might apply to the tree, wood, or dye produced therefrom.

    January 11, 2009

  • Used in a translated primary source ca. 900 in comment on perfumer.

    November 28, 2017