duster
Americannoun
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a person or thing that removes dust: the rags I use as dusters for the furniture.
a housekeeper who’s a meticulous duster;
the rags I use as dusters for the furniture.
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a person or thing that applies dust, powder, etc.: a new pink duster for her lavender-scented body powder.
a team of dusters who use magnetic powder to detect fingerprints;
a new pink duster for her lavender-scented body powder.
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a container with a perforated lid for sprinkling dust, powder, etc.: a decorative cake topping made with a stencil and a sugar duster.
a duster for shaking insecticide onto your rose bushes;
a decorative cake topping made with a stencil and a sugar duster.
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Until this wind dies down, our dusters will be grounded.
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a lightweight housecoat.
She was the perfect grandmother, always in a flowered duster and always with a jar full of cookies.
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a long, light overgarment, worn to protect one’s clothing from dust.
On display is a man’s brown canvas duster, circa 1910, commonly worn in the early days of open automobiles.
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a calf-length cardigan or coat for women that is loose-fitting and often without buttons or other fasteners.
She rocks it in a breezy chambray duster and buttercup-yellow heels.
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Meteorology. dust storm.
The suddenness with which these dusters appear can be very unnerving.
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Also called dust-off pitch. Baseball. a pitched ball that travels so far inside as it crosses the plate that the batter is forced to drop to the ground so as not to be hit by the ball.
That’s the second duster Hernandez has thrown in this series, so the umpire’s warning comes as no surprise.
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They were so sure they’d strike oil, but I knew it was going to be a duster.
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Military. Duster, a self-propelled U.S. antiaircraft gun developed in the 1950s, armed with a twin 40 mm cannon.
The last time an Air Defense Artillery class fired the Duster in training was in 1988.
noun
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US name: dust cloth. a cloth used for dusting furniture, etc
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a machine for blowing out dust over trees or crops
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a person or thing that dusts
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of duster
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:
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
She was dressed in a lacy white duster over slacks and T-shirt and her shoes were not meant for hiking.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2023
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
“I hate this play and every word in it,” she says, before throwing down her duster like a mic drop.
From New York Times ● Apr. 25, 2022
“We ought to brought Loomis along,” I said, taking off the hot duster and my cap.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
Procter & Gamble reported volume declined 2% in the latest quarter in its home and fabric-care division, which includes brands like Tide detergent, Dawn dish liquid and Swiffer dusters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2025
The California Domestic Workers Coalition had ratcheted up the pressure this time around, protesting in Sacramento armed with brooms and dusters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2023
Every time a banana tree sprouts a leaf, it's newly vulnerable to fungal infection, so farmers spray fungicide from crop dusters and enclose growing fruits in plastic bags loaded with insecticide to deter bugs.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 22, 2023
He agreed he had an interest in collecting weapons, such as crossbows, knuckle dusters, knives and swords.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2020
Two anxious servants armed with feather dusters were already on their third inspection of every nook and cranny of the room.
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
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.
