dust
Americannoun
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dust
plural
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earth or other matter in fine, dry particles.
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a cloud of finely powdered earth or other matter in the air.
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any finely powdered substance, as sawdust.
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the ground; the earth's surface.
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the substance to which something, as the dead human body, is ultimately reduced by disintegration or decay; earthly remains.
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British.
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ashes, refuse, etc.
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junk.
-
-
a low or humble condition.
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anything worthless.
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disturbance; turmoil.
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the mortal body of a human being.
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a single particle or grain.
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Archaic. money; cash.
verb (used with object)
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dusts,
present (3rd person singular)
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dusted,
past participle, past
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dusting
present participle
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to wipe the dust from.
to dust a table.
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to sprinkle with a powder or dust.
to dust rosebushes with an insecticide.
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to strew or sprinkle (a powder, dust, or other fine particles).
to dust insecticide on a rosebush.
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to soil with dust; make dusty.
verb (used without object)
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dusts,
present (3rd person singular)
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dusted,
past participle, past
-
dusting
present participle
-
to wipe dust from furniture, woodwork, etc.
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to become dusty.
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to apply dust or powder to a plant, one's body, etc..
to dust with an insecticide in late spring.
idioms
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shake the dust from one's feet, to depart in anger or disdain; leave decisively or in haste, especially from an unpleasant situation.
As the country moved toward totalitarianism, many of the intelligentsia shook the dust from their feet.
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lick the dust,
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to be killed; die.
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to humble oneself abjectly; grovel.
He will resign rather than lick the dust.
-
-
throw dust in someone's eyes, to mislead; deceive.
He threw dust in our eyes by pretending to be a jeweler and then disappeared with the diamonds.
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make the dust fly, to execute with vigor or speed.
We turned them loose on the work, and they made the dust fly.
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leave one in the dust, to overtake and surpass a competitor or one who is less ambitious, qualified, etc..
Don't be so meek, they'll leave you in the dust.
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bite the dust,
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to be killed, especially in battle; die.
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to suffer defeat; be unsuccessful; fail.
Another manufacturer has bitten the dust.
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dust off,
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Baseball. (of a pitcher) to throw the ball purposely at or dangerously close to (the batter).
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to take out or prepare for use again, as after a period of inactivity or storage.
I'm going to dust off my accounting skills and try to get a job in the finance department.
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to beat up badly.
The gang of hoodlums dusted off a cop.
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noun
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dry fine powdery material, such as particles of dirt, earth or pollen
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a cloud of such fine particles
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the powdery particles to which something is thought to be reduced by death, decay, or disintegration
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the mortal body of man
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the corpse of a dead person
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the earth; ground
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informal a disturbance; fuss (esp in the phrases kick up a dust, raise a dust )
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something of little or no worth
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informal (in mining parlance) silicosis or any similar respiratory disease
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short for gold dust
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ashes or household refuse
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to fail completely or cease to exist
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to fall down dead
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something that is very disappointing
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to outdo someone or something comprehensively or with ease
leaving their competitors in the dust
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to depart angrily or contemptuously
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to confuse or mislead
verb
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(tr) to sprinkle or cover (something) with (dust or some other powdery substance)
to dust a cake with sugar
to dust sugar onto a cake
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to remove dust by wiping, sweeping, or brushing
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archaic to make or become dirty with dust
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dustsimple
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dustssimple
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have dustedperfect
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has dustedperfect
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am dustingprogressive
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are dustingprogressive
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is dustingprogressive
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have been dustingperfect progressive
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has been dustingperfect progressive
Past
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dustedsimple
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had dustedperfect
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was dustingprogressive
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were dustingprogressive
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had been dustingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dust
before 900; Middle English; Old English dūst; cognate with German Dunst vapor
Explanation
Dust is the fine, powdery substance that settles on surfaces over time or is blown around outdoors. A junk shop might be full of beautiful old furniture and books, all covered with dust. There's the dust you clean with a feather duster, and then there's the verb "to dust." You can dust your bookshelves, cleaning the dust from them, but you can also dust the surface of a cake with powdered sugar, covering it lightly. Informally, when something "gathers dust," it goes unused, and when "the dust settles," a situation calms down.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
NGC 3256 and II Zw 096, the latter containing a powerful burst of star formation hidden behind thick dust, provide examples of the violent interactions that were especially common in the early universe.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 20, 2026
Every year, Earth passes through the comet dust and the debris burns with the friction caused by the atmosphere, creating a bright streak of light through the sky.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
Once the dust settles from these market selloffs, gold and silver prices often rebound quickly due to bargain buying, Samuelson said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 17, 2026
Despite being jaded by the carbon-capture effort, Godwin said Orbital would dust off that research if demand emerges.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
When Ma mentioned that my eyes were like steamed taro, swollen and purplish, I muttered that they were itchy from the dust blowing everywhere.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
As Fennell trots along Brontë’s tentpoles, she dusts the narrative between these plot points with sensational set pieces and eye-popping costumes.
From Salon ● Feb. 14, 2026
We’re more taken by the scenes in which her father, Stellan Skarsgård’s faded filmmaker Gustav, dusts off his moth-eaten charisma to charm Elle Fanning’s Hollywood starlet into doing his new project.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2026
Under the blazing Mexican sun, Maria Couoh dusts off the skull of her late uncle Tomas.
From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2025
A stray cat she encounters on the road reminds her of herself, both of them having "weathered the wind and rain for years but still managing to love this world that dusts our faces".
From BBC ● Jan. 4, 2025
Rain dusts the glass panels above our heads.
From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth
As a woman who left palaces behind and dusted off the debris of war to create a family empire, d’Ornano expresses her life philosophy through art and words embroidered on pillows.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026
"Avengers: Endgame" dusted competitors in the North American weekend box office, as the 2019 super hero film was re-released in a bid to drum up support for the franchise.
From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026
Dixon-Wyatt dusted his defender off the line to catch a red-zone slant for a score.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026
But Muchova dusted herself down to fight again, bringing up her second match point by sending Gauff wide before slamming home an inside-out forehand winner into the corner.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
By luck I have not dusted the house recently.
From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien
He’s also paying steeper fuel surcharges for services like crop dusting.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
The US National Agricultural Aviation Association, which represents crop dusting pilots, says small uncrewed aircraft can be hard for its aviators to see.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
Chipper Jones stopped by and said, “You dusting off that chair for next year, Dusty?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
A light dusting of snow fell on the area on Monday, signalling the upcoming start of the ski season.
From Barron's ● May 12, 2026
Between 1867 and 1871, he pushed himself even harder, growing thousands of hawkweeds in another patch of garden, emasculating the flowers with the same forceps, and dusting pollen with the same paintbrush.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
