Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) a rusty old ship; also as adj.

1945		Seafarers’ Log 8 June 2/2: C. M. Chaney, J. D. Riffle and R. R. Ullan were dispatched to one of the more notorious rust buckets [OED].
1947		R.O. Boyer Dark Ship 169: If it wasn’t for the union [...] I’d be a bum on a rust-bucket.
1958		A. Saxton Bright Web in Darkness 136: He glanced forward occasionally at the flagship, an ancient British rustbucket, wallowing ahead of them.
1967		(con. 1940s) M. Dibner Admiral (1968) 49: You don’t expect I’m going to put to sea in this tore-up old rustbucket without it!
1975		J. Ryan Remembering How We Stood 13: The stuff has to be transported [...] across half the globe in ancient leaky rust-buckets.
1989		M. Walker How to Kiss a Crocodile 65: Reality of a brisk Peruvian morning was jumping into the back seat of a local cab - a rust-bucket that used to be a beetlebug (Volkswagen).
1992		G. Disher Paydirt [ebook] [H]ot-wiring one of the rust buckets in the used-car lot.
2003		Deutsche Welle 28 Mar. 🌐 [heading] EU to Ban ‘Rustbucket’ Oil Tankers.
2009		J. Stahl Pain Killers 29: [of a caravan] I raised eleven children in this rust bucket.
2011		Intelligent Life Spring 44/2: To join the VW tribe you can buy a rust bucket and restore it.
2018		(con. 1963) L. Berney November Road 233: ‘Ed! Do you have anything to eat on this rust bucket?’.

2. an old plane.

1950		R. Starnes Another Mug for the Bier 15: ‘[A] lot of good men died trying to fly old rust buckets against the airplanes the Krauts and Japs had’.
2002		Indep. Rev. 30 Mar. 3: I think of the rustbuckets I have travelled in and the mad pilots to whom I’ve entrusted my security.

3. (orig. Aus./N.Z./US, also rust-box) a car that is noticeably and dangerously rusty; also as adj.

1969		Sun. Mail (Brisbane) 9 Nov. 15/4: [heading] Car trade-ins fit for scrap. Dealers stuck with ‘rust-buckets’ .
1972		I. Moffitt U-Jack Society 121: They look beautiful, but underneath they’re rust-buckets.
1983		S. King Christine 14: It would be too easy to stop payment on a local cheque if this rust-bucket Plymouth threw a rod or blew a piston.
1993		K. Lette Foetal Attraction (1994) 242: Having finally parked her rust-bucket.
2006		Observer Mag. 15 Jan. 13/2: They were embarrassed by him turning up at their posh public school in a rustbucket.
2011		Observer 20 Feb. 31/2: Old people treated like old bangers: rust-boxes full of dodgy components.
2012		(con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 35: Nicksy’s car, a messy rustbucket full ay auld newspapers, takeaway cartons and empty beer cans.
2015		P. Beatty Sellout (2016) 84: We were caught up in a slog of uninsured rust-bucket jalopies [...] their trash-bag windshields flapping in the wind.
2019		G. Disher Peace 119: An old rustbucket Kingswood.

(US tramp) a construction worker.

1913		Omaha Dly Bee (NE) 14 Sept. 13/2: The rust-eaters, the lingoistic appellation of the rail-laying squad [...] prefer a battered cady.
1927		‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 461: Rust eater, A track layer.
1930		‘Dean Stiff’ Milk and Honey Route 35: Hobos are known for what they do, or do not do [...] If he works on iron bridges he is a ‘rust eater.’.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 816: rust eater – A track layer or steel worker.

(US) to discomfit, to deflate.

1838

T. Haliburton Clockmaker (1843) II 150: It took the rust off of him pretty slick, you may depend.