dust

plural dusts

1. Fine particles.
   1. uncountableFine, 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.

      There is so much dust released during the process of laying ballast that the trackside operator wears a full face mask with respirator.

      2022 September 7, “East-West track laying heads westwards”, in RAIL, number 965, page 37, photo caption

   2. uncountableAny substance reduced to fine particles; powder.
   3. uncountableastronomySubmicron particles in outer space, largely silicates and carbon compounds, that contribute greatly to extinction at visible wavelengths.

      Astronomers have previously considered that dust produced by the star was obscuring it, causing the steep decline in brightness.

      2020 June 29, Paun Rincon, “Betelgeuse: Nearby ‘supernova’ star’s dimming explained”, in BBC News

   4. uncountableoccupational healthDisintegration of a solid, like silica.
   5. AustraliadatedslanguncountableFlour.
   6. countableobsoleteA single fine, dry particle of earth or other material; grain of dust.

      to touch a dust of England’s ground

      1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]

2. countableThe act of cleaning by dusting.

   […]once they start school, I mean you can do a room out one day, the next day it only needs a dust, doesn’t it?

   2010, Joan Busfield, Michael Paddon, Thinking About Children: Sociology and Fertility in Post-War England, page 150

3. countableThe act of sprinkling dust, or a sprinkle of dust itself.
4. countablepoeticuncountableEarth, ground, soil, sediment.

   But I should turn mine ears and hear The moanings of the homeless sea, ⁠The sound of streams that swift or slow ⁠Draw down Æonian hills, and sow The dust of continents to be; […]

   1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXXV”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 54

5. countableuncountableThe earth as the resting place of the dead.

   For now shall I sleep in the dust.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 7:21

6. countableuncountableThe earthly remains of bodies once alive; the remains of the human body.

   For I will leave my relics in your land, / And you may carve a shrine about my dust, / And burn a fragrant lamp before my bones, / When I am gather’d to the glorious saints.

   1833 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “St. Simeon Stylites”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 62

7. countablefigurativelyuncountableThe substance of the human body or mortal frame.
8. countablefigurativelyuncountableSomething worthless.

   And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust.

   c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]

9. countablefigurativelyuncountableA low or mean condition.

   [God] raiseth up the poor out of the dust.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 2:8

10. UKcolloquialcountableuncountableRubbish, garbage, refuse.
11. countabledatedslanguncountablecash; money (in reference to gold dust).

    ‘And what do you ask for it?’ ‘Fifteen thousand dollars.’ ‘I’ll take it.’ ‘Then down with the dust.’

    1852, George Colvocoresses, Four Years in a Government Exploring Expedition

12. countableA cloud of dust.
13. countablefigurativelyA tumult, disturbance, commotion, uproar.

    to raise, or kick up, a dust

14. colloquialcountableA fight or row.
15. countablemathematicsA totally disconnected set of points with a fractal structure.
16. countableuncountablebusinessTiny amounts of cryptocurrency left over after a transaction due to rounding error.

present singular third person dusts · participle present dusting · participle past dusted · past dusted

1. transitiveTo remove dust from.

   The cleaning lady needs a stool to dust the cupboard.

   1 more example

   There were many wooden chairs for the bulk of his visitors, and two wicker armchairs with red cloth cushions for superior people. From the packing-cases had emerged some Indian clubs,[…], and all these articles[…] made a scattered and untidy decoration that Mrs. Clough assiduously dusted and greatly cherished.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

2. intransitiveTo remove dust; to clean by removing dust.

   Dusting always makes me cough.

3. archaictransitiveTo make dusty, to soil with dust.
4. intransitivereflexiveOf a bird, to cover itself in sand or dry, dusty earth.
5. transitiveTo spray or cover (something) with fine powder or liquid, to sprinkle.

   The mother dusted her baby’s bum with talcum powder.

6. transitiveTo sprinkle (a substance) in the form of dust.
7. USintransitiveslangTo leave quickly; to rush off.

   He added in a casual tone: ‘The girl can dust. I’d like to talk to you a little, soldier.’

   1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 75

8. obsoletetransitiveTo drink up quickly; to toss off.
9. obsoletetransitiveTo reduce to a fine powder; to pulverize, to levigate.

   good Powder differs from bad […]in having more Peter and less Coal; and lastly, in the well dusting of it

   1667, Thomas Sprat, History of the Royal Society of London

10. colloquialdialectaltransitiveTo strike, beat, thrash.
11. USslangtransitiveTo defeat badly, to thrash.
12. USslangtransitiveTo kill.

    Kyle Reese: You have to be careful because the [Hunter-Killer robots] use infrared. They’re not too bright. John taught us ways to dust them.

    1984, The Terminator, spoken by Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), Los Angeles, Calif.: Orion Pictures; distributed by MGM Home Entertainment, published 1984

13. transitiveball gamesTo deliberately pitch a ball close to (a batter); to brush back.
14. businessTo attempt to identify the owner of (a cryptocurrency wallet) by sending tiny amounts of cryptocurrency.

plural Dusts

1. A surname.