musthy

English

Adjective

musthy (comparative more musthy, superlative most musthy)

1. Alternative form of musty (“in musth”)
   • 2004, Richard C. Francis, “Social Inhibitions”, in Why Men Won’t Ask for Directions: The Seductions of Sociobiology, Princeton, N.J., Oxford: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 79:

     In nature, almost all elephants avoid musthy males—with the exceptions of other musthy males (with whom they fight) and receptive females (with whom they mate). Musthy males do not always confine their rage to other elephants, however, as zoo keepers and white rhinos can attest.

   • 2005, Colin Cotterill, “Two Dead Men on a Bicycle”, in Thirty-Three Teeth, Soho Press, →ISBN:

     I have it filed away that in the future, no matter how free, no matter how fascinating the squiggles on the bottle, I shall avoid Russian vodka as if it were a musthy elephant.

   • 2015, Caitlin O’Connell, “Baying at a Testosterone-Filled Moon”, in Elephant Don: The Politics of a Pachyderm Posse, Chicago, Ill., London: The University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 169:

     An hour ago, I had taken the truck out to collect the musthy Smokey’s dung in the pitch-black. A lioness on the prowl made for a tense dung safari. A while later, Smokey returned to the water hole with his musthy deliberations, as a lazy lioness roared to the east.