crop duster
Americannoun
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a pilot employed in crop-dusting from an airplane.
In 1942, he went from being a crop duster in Kansas to being a fighter pilot in the Pacific.
-
an airplane used in crop-dusting.
I made my first solo flight in that old crop duster.
Etymology
Origin of crop duster
First recorded in 1935–40
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.
In Kern County: Mistaken for a government agent by foreign spies, Roger Thornhill, played by Cary Grant, is chased across a barren field in Indiana by a crop duster in “North by Northwest.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2026
Hankey even hired a crop duster to fly over half of his 30 acres to test whether the plane would move more pollen around in the air and improve fertilization.
From Reuters ● Dec. 21, 2022
Ukraine’s most sophisticated attack drone is about as stealthy as a crop duster: slow, low-flying and completely defenseless.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 11, 2022
The legislation follows an incident last year where about 20 farmworkers in southwestern Idaho said they became sick after a crop duster sprayed pesticide on a field right next to them.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 12, 2020
When I looked up, I saw a crop duster plunging his little plane over a field of growing things, behind him a cloud of pesticides parachuting out.
From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
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.
