black rust

American

noun

Plant Pathology.

any of several diseases of plants caused by rusts and characterized by black discoloration resulting from the fungal teliospores.

black rust British

noun

a stage in any of several diseases of cereals and grasses caused by rust fungi in which black masses of spores appear on the stems or leaves

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of black rust

An Americanism dating back to 1780–90

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Colors tend to be white, gray, black, rust and dusty pink, with occasional forays into red, yellow or deep green.

From New York Times

And because Black Rust had impaired the spring wheat yield those thousands of bushels he raised, he had sold at a price so high that he had sufficient to redeem at last the land he was about to lose and money left for future development into the bargain.

From Project Gutenberg

Soon, the plant is enveloped in reddish-brown or black pustules, leading to the disease's other name, black rust.

From Nature

Hope on this score plus rumors of black rust last week jumped prices on the Chicago wheat exchange 4�� a bu. day after the report was issued.

From Time Magazine Archive

In some spots there had been drought, in others black rust, in still others grasshoppers.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023