Standard Lemma guide

mustily

adv · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

adv

Meaning 1

In a musty manner.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, translated by John Florio, The Second Chapter, “Of Repenting,” [...] nor are there any spirits, or very rare ones, which in growing old taste not sowrely and mustily.
  • 1908, O. Henry, “The Shocks of Doom” in The Voice of The City: Further Stories of the Four Million, Doubleday, Page & Co., 1914, pp. 96-7, He was either young or old; cheap lodging-houses had flavored him mustily; razors and combs had passed him by; in him drink had been bottled and sealed in the devil’s bond.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English musty Middle English -ly English -ly English mustily From musty + -ly.