mildewyadj.
/ˈmɪldjuːi/, /ˈmɪldʒuːi/, U.S. /ˈmɪlˌd(j)ui/ Affected by mildew; resembling or of the nature of mildew. Also figurative.
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mildewed1552
mildewy1823
1823 W. F. Deacon Inn-keeper's Album 198 Age and Want with mildewy breath disdain The mirror of the past.
1836 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz 1st Ser. II. 205 The damp, mildewy smell which pervades the places.
1838 C. Dickens Oliver Twist II. xxvi. 93 Heaps of mildewy fragments of woollen-stuff.
a1862 H. D. Thoreau Excursions (1863) 296 Foggy, mildewy days.
1884 R. Buchanan Foxglove Manor III. xxxiv. 147 A creed so worn out, mildewy, and old-fashioned.
1963 P. White Let. 6 Oct. (1994) viii. 240 Returning to our house has been quite easy, though I must say it is still pretty cold and mildewy.
1991 J. Sheen Pressing Flowers (BNC) 108 I do still have a squashed, rather brown and mildewy rose pressed between the pages of a book somewhere.
2010 Church Times 30 July 15/2 You try to get this item [sc. a tent] out of the mildewy bag where it has lain neglected for 11 months.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1823