feather duster
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of feather duster
First recorded in 1855–60
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.
It’s an arresting image that signals the production’s bold, stylized approach to this canonical text, often treated as an antique that requires only a feather duster to be brought back to life.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026
The “hair” sprouting off this branch resembles a downy feather duster or fluffy tuft of cotton—maybe even fragments of a bad white wig.
From Scientific American • Dec. 7, 2021
As for tools, Zedd says, use whatever you have on hand: microfiber cloths with a spray of mild soap and water, baby wipes or a feather duster.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 15, 2021
Unlike a pig’s curlicue or a raccoon’s striped feather duster, a scorpion’s tail also contains the arthropod’s intestine and ventral nerve cord, the invertebrate equivalent of a human spinal cord.
From New York Times • Aug. 31, 2021
I love to walk down the aisles, half expecting I’ll find Chucha with the big feather duster the stock boy uses to clean the shelves.
From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
