Also 6–7 fusticke, (7 fustwick, 8 fustoc, -uc), 7–9 fustick. [a. F. fustoc, a. Sp. fustoc, a. Arab. fustuq, ad. Gr. πιστάκη PISTACHIO. The name was transferred from the pistachio to the closely allied sumach-tree (Rhus Cotinus), and thence to another tree which resembles the latter in yielding a yellow dye.]
1. The name of two kinds of wood, both used for dyeing yellow. a. The wood of the Venetian sumach (Rhus Cotinus). Now only with defining word, young or Zante fustic. b. The wood of the Cladrastis (Chlorophora, Maclura) † tinctoria of America and the West Indies. Sometimes called for distinction old fustic.
1545. Ascham, Toxoph. (Arb.), 123. Steles [of arrows] be made of dyuerse woodes, as … Fusticke [etc.].
1646. Royalist Composition Papers (Yorksh. Archæol. Soc.), II. 47. In goods viz. Oyles, Mathers, Gales, Copperis, Retwood, ffustwick.
1652. Perfect Account, No. 101. 2071. 2 Cannestrees of Cochinele, a good quantity of Fustick.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. xvi. It was very like the Tree we call Fustic.
1757. Dyer, Fleece (1807), 97.
| The snowy web is steep’d, with grains of weld, | |
| Fustic, or logwood, mix’d, or cochineal, | |
| Or the dark purple pulp of Pictish woad. |
1812. J. Smyth, Pract. of Customs, 241. Fustick imported from the Greek islands is in very small sticks, and is denominated by the trade young Fustick.
1838. T. Thomson, Chem. Org. Bodies, 414. Before fustic can be employed as a dye-stuff, it must be cut into chips and put into a bag, that it may not fix in and tear the cloth to which it is to impart its colouring matter.
1870. Yeats, Nat. Hist. Comm., 218. Fustic is brought to market in long pieces or logs.
2. A yellow dye extracted from the wood of the fustic trees.
1858. Carpenter, Veg. Phys., § 367. A much greater demand exists, however, for the dye termed Fustic; which is extracted from the wood of a species of Mulberry tree, that grows spontaneously in Brazil and the West Indies.
1863. Life in South, II. 306. Fustic, and copal, with other dyes and varnishes.
3. attrib., as fustic-tree, -wood.
1630. Capt. Smith, Trav. & Adv., xxvi. 56. Fusticke trees are very great and the wood yellow, good for dying.
1712. trans. Pomet’s Hist. Drugs, I. 70. The People of Provence and Italy, after they have peel’d off the Bark, sell the Fustick Wood.
1756. P. Browne, Jamaica, 339. The *Fustic Tree. This is a fine timber-wood; and a principal ingredient in most of our yellow dyes, for which it is chiefly imported into Europe.
