Adjective

(head)

having the characteristics of a runt

* 1965 , June 17, “Love—and Death—in the African Night”, The Times

From the light above us thin shadows flickered and a runty little image of the defiance in front of me fell on to the table. [...] The little runt was still singed and groggy [...]

* 1969 , October 4, Roy Hay, “Peaches and Plums”, The Times

Only later did I discover that a runty old almond tree, hidden behind a laburnum, riddled with peach leaf curl, [...]

diminutive

Adjective

(er)

Affected by rust.

Of the rust color, reddish or reddish-brown.

*

*:Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, withon one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.

Having red or reddish-brown hair.

Lacking recent experience, out of practice, especially with respect to a skill or activity.

*{{quote-news, year=2010, date=December 29, author=Sam Sheringham, work=BBC

, title= Liverpool 0-1 Wolverhampton , passage=Before the match, Hodgson had expressed the hope that his players would be fresh rather than rusty after an 18-day break from league commitments because of two successive postponements.}}

Discolored and rancid; reasty.

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