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dust

UK/dʌst/ US/dʊst/ common slang uk us
noun (3) verb (4)

noun

1.

fine powdery material such as dry earth or pollen that can be blown about in the air

  • “the furniture was covered with dust”
2.

the remains of something that has been destroyed or broken up

Synonyms
3.

free microscopic particles of solid material

  • “astronomers say that the empty space between planets actually contains measurable amounts of dust”

verb

1.

remove the dust from

  • “dust the cabinets”
2.

rub the dust over a surface so as to blur the outlines of a shape

  • “The artist dusted the charcoal drawing down to a faint image”
3.

cover with a light dusting of a substance

  • “dust the bread with flour”
4.

distribute loosely

  • “He scattered gun powder under the wagon”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English dust, doust, from Old English dūst (“dust, dried earth reduced to powder; other dry material reduced to powder”), from the fusion of Proto-Germanic *dustą (“dust”) and *dunstą (“mist, dust, evaporation”), both from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to smoke, raise dust”). Cognate with Scots dust, dist (“dust”), Dutch duist (“pollen, dust”) and dons (“down, fuzz”), German Dust (“dust”) and Dunst (“haze”), Swedish dust (“dust”), Icelandic dust (“dust”), Latin fūmus (“smoke, steam”). Also related to Swedish dun (“down, fluff”), Icelandic dúnn (“down, fluff”). See down.

Phrases

  • angel dust
  • Asian dust
  • bark dust
  • beat the dust
  • bite the dust
  • brake dust
  • bread dust
  • bull dust
  • dust bunny
  • dust down
  • dust off
  • dust out

Related words

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Entails

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.