dust
Americannoun
-
dust
plural
-
earth or other matter in fine, dry particles.
-
a cloud of finely powdered earth or other matter in the air.
-
any finely powdered substance, as sawdust.
-
the ground; the earth's surface.
-
the substance to which something, as the dead human body, is ultimately reduced by disintegration or decay; earthly remains.
-
British.
-
ashes, refuse, etc.
-
junk.
-
-
a low or humble condition.
-
anything worthless.
-
disturbance; turmoil.
-
the mortal body of a human being.
-
a single particle or grain.
-
Archaic. money; cash.
verb (used with object)
-
dusts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dusted,
past participle, past
-
dusting
present participle
-
to wipe the dust from.
to dust a table.
-
to sprinkle with a powder or dust.
to dust rosebushes with an insecticide.
-
to strew or sprinkle (a powder, dust, or other fine particles).
to dust insecticide on a rosebush.
-
to soil with dust; make dusty.
verb (used without object)
-
dusts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dusted,
past participle, past
-
dusting
present participle
-
to wipe dust from furniture, woodwork, etc.
-
to become dusty.
-
to apply dust or powder to a plant, one's body, etc..
to dust with an insecticide in late spring.
idioms
-
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.
-
lick the dust,
-
to be killed; die.
-
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.
-
make the dust fly, to execute with vigor or speed.
We turned them loose on the work, and they made the dust fly.
-
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.
-
bite the dust,
-
to be killed, especially in battle; die.
-
to suffer defeat; be unsuccessful; fail.
Another manufacturer has bitten the dust.
-
-
dust off,
-
Baseball. (of a pitcher) to throw the ball purposely at or dangerously close to (the batter).
-
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.
-
to beat up badly.
The gang of hoodlums dusted off a cop.
-
noun
-
dry fine powdery material, such as particles of dirt, earth or pollen
-
a cloud of such fine particles
-
the powdery particles to which something is thought to be reduced by death, decay, or disintegration
-
-
the mortal body of man
-
the corpse of a dead person
-
-
the earth; ground
-
informal a disturbance; fuss (esp in the phrases kick up a dust, raise a dust )
-
something of little or no worth
-
informal (in mining parlance) silicosis or any similar respiratory disease
-
short for gold dust
-
ashes or household refuse
-
-
to fail completely or cease to exist
-
to fall down dead
-
-
something that is very disappointing
-
to outdo someone or something comprehensively or with ease
leaving their competitors in the dust
-
to depart angrily or contemptuously
-
to confuse or mislead
verb
-
(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
-
to remove dust by wiping, sweeping, or brushing
-
archaic to make or become dirty with dust
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
dustsimple
-
dustssimple
-
have dustedperfect
-
has dustedperfect
-
am dustingprogressive
-
are dustingprogressive
-
is dustingprogressive
-
have been dustingperfect progressive
-
has been dustingperfect progressive
Past
-
dustedsimple
-
had dustedperfect
-
was dustingprogressive
-
were dustingprogressive
-
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:
Their movement disturbed the orbits of smaller objects, setting off catastrophic collisions and producing brief periods filled with large amounts of dust, similar to what astronomers now observe in extreme debris disks.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026
There is dust and dirt on her clothes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
And if that’s the case, to jump briefly to the conclusion, we might need to dust off the financial playbook from that dismal decade.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
The display occurs at around the same time each year as the Earth passes through a trail of dust and debris left behind by Halley's Comet.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
The dust in my throat chokes off my words.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
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
She feels the same, she said, when she dusts the Galleria’s so-called prisoners or slaves, four figures Michelangelo designed for the mausoleum of Pope Julius II but left unfinished.
From New York Times ● Nov. 28, 2022
Arsenic-contaminated environments have also caused sickness and death among horses, cows, goats, pigs, deer, fishes, and bees; despite this record arsenical sprays and dusts are widely used.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
"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
The only tournaments where he can significantly alter and improve his already stellar career are done and dusted three months from now.
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026
Some dusted off old camping stoves and refilled oil canisters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
The soldier got up and dusted himself off.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
He’s also paying steeper fuel surcharges for services like crop dusting.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
The 85,976-strong crowd went through their celebratory songbook, dusting off their Cranberries-inspired ode to head coach Rassie Erasmus.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
Granted, rebalancing is one of those periodic chores that’s easy to neglect, like dusting your refrigerator coils.
From Barron's ● May 28, 2026
Rainfall totals of half an inch to 1.5 inches are expected in the mountain and foothill regions, and there is a chance of a dusting of snow in areas above 6,000 feet elevation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2026
The lamp shades and the television screen were covered with a light dusting of...was that flour?
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
