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
“The truth is always best,” she concluded as she quickly assembled clean clothes for the children and brushed the dust off her one and only hat.
From Literature
Others used the shutdown to dust off esoteric research projects.
The building might well collapse but it doesn't deter them - they collect old breeze blocks and brush thick dust off an old red sofa.
From BBC
Dust off your neon leg warmers and get ready for a blast from the past — Las Vegas is about to get a nostalgia overload.
From Salon
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.
