dust
/dʌst/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms dusts dusting dusted
- noun (uncountable) Fine, dry particles of matter found in the air and covering the surface of objects, typically consisting of soil lifted up by the wind, pollen, hair, fiber debris, dead skin cells, etc.
- noun (uncountable) Any substance reduced to fine particles; powder.
- noun (uncountable, astronomy) Submicron particles in outer space, largely silicates and carbon compounds, that contribute greatly to extinction at visible wavelengths.
- noun (uncountable, occupational health) Disintegration of a solid, like silica.
- noun (uncountable, Australia, slang, dated) Flour.
- noun (countable, obsolete) A single fine, dry particle of earth or other material; grain of dust.
- noun (countable) The act of cleaning by dusting.
- noun (countable) The act of sprinkling dust, or a sprinkle of dust itself.
- verb (transitive) To remove dust from. “The cleaning lady needs a stool to dust the cupboard.”
- verb (intransitive) To remove dust; to clean by removing dust. “Dusting always makes me cough.”
- verb (transitive, archaic) To make dusty, to soil with dust.
- verb (intransitive or reflexive) Of a bird, to cover itself in sand or dry, dusty earth.
- verb (transitive) To spray or cover (something) with fine powder or liquid, to sprinkle. “The mother dusted her baby’s bum with talcum powder.”
- verb (transitive) To sprinkle (a substance) in the form of dust.
- verb (intransitive, chiefly US slang) To leave quickly; to rush off.
- verb (transitive, obsolete) To drink up quickly; to toss off.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
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.
* As an English surname, from the noun dust.
* As a north German surname, from the noun Dust with the same meaning as above, from Middle Low German and Old Saxon dust, from Proto-Germanic *dustą.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Fine, dry particles of earth or other matter, so comminuted that they may be raised and wafted by the wind; that which is crumbled too minute portions; fine powder; as, clouds of dust; bone dust.
- noun A single particle of earth or other matter. [R.] "To touch a dust of England's ground." Shak.
- verb To free from dust; to brush, wipe, or sweep away dust from; as, to dust a table or a floor.
- verb To sprinkle with dust.
Etymology [AS. dust; cf. LG. dust, D. duist meal dust, OD. doest, donst, and G. dunst vapor, OHG. tunist, dunist, a blowing, wind, Icel. dust dust, Dan. dyst mill dust; perh. akin to L. fumus smoke, E. fume. .]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “dust”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details