dust off
Idioms-
Restore to use. For example, I've dusted off last year's menu for the party . This usage alludes to cleaning and thereby renewing some object. [Mid-1900s]
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Pitch a baseball dangerously close to the batter's head, as in I'm sure he dusted him off on purpose . [ Slang ; 1920s]
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Finish off, kill; also, easily defeat. For example, They vowed to dust off the old man , or We'll dust off this team in no time . [ Slang ; c. 1940]
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Thrash, beat up, as in If he didn't hand over his wallet, they threatened to dust him off . [ Slang ; 1920s]
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.
First I had to dust off and reclaim the title of Artist I had buried underneath frustration and resentment and lay it loudly alongside that of Mother.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 16, 2025
Vermonters have launched fundraising campaigns for police to man road closures and officials to dust off old parking ordinances.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 12, 2025
You can also use a pastry brush or a clean, unused paintbrush to dust off the surfaces.
From Salon • Mar. 22, 2025
So I kind of was never picturing the literal founders and I think what it does, it sort of blows the dust off of our history books.
From BBC • Sep. 14, 2024
As I sat there watching Dad tidy his paperwork, empty his pencil sharpener, and blow the dust off his glass paperweights, I vowed never to become a heartless, blind-eye hypocrite like him.
From "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" by A.S. King
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.
