dust

From Middle English dust, doust, from Old English dūst (“dust, dried earth reduced to powder; other dry material reduced to powder”), from the fusion of Proto-Germanic *dustą (“dust”) and *dunstą (“mist, dust, evaporation”), both from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to smoke, raise dust”). Cognate with Scots dust, dist (“dust”), Dutch duist (“pollen, dust”) and dons (“down, fuzz”), German Dust (“dust”) and Dunst (“haze”), Swedish dust (“dust”), Icelandic dust (“dust”), Latin fūmus (“smoke, steam”). Also related to Swedish dun (“down, fluff”), Icelandic dúnn (“down, fluff”). See down.

• IPA^(key): /dʌst/

• Audio

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• Rhymes: -ʌst

• Audio (US)

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• Homophone: dost

dust (countable and uncountable, plural dusts)

1. (uncountable) Fine, dry particles of matter found in the air and covering the surface of objects, typically consisting of soil lifted up by the wind, pollen, hair, etc.
2. (countable) The act of cleaning by dusting.
   • 2010, Joan Busfield, Michael Paddon, Thinking About Children: Sociology and Fertility in Post-War England (page 150)

     […] once they start school, I mean you can do a room out one day, the next day it only needs a dust, doesn't it?

3. (obsolete) A single particle of earth or other material.
   • Shakespeare

     to touch a dust of England's ground

4. The earth, as the resting place of the dead.
   • Bible, Job vii. 21

     I shall sleep in the dust.

5. The earthy remains of bodies once alive; the remains of the human body.
   • Tennyson

     And you may carve a shrine about my dust.

6. (figuratively) Something worthless.
   • Shakespeare

     And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust.

7. (figuratively) A low or mean condition.
   • Bible, 1 Sam. ii. 8

     [God] raiseth up the poor out of the dust.

8. (slang, dated) cash; money (in reference to gold dust).
   • 1852, George Colvocoresses, Four Years in a Government Exploring Expedition

     'And what do you ask for it?' 'Fifteen thousand dollars.' 'I'll take it.' 'Then down with the dust.'

9. (colloquial) A disturbance or uproar.

   to raise, or kick up, a dust

10. (mathematics) A totally disconnected set of points with a fractal structure.

dust (third-person singular simple present dusts, present participle dusting, simple past and past participle dusted)

1. (transitive) To remove dust from.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 12, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     There were many wooden chairs for the bulk of his visitors, and two wicker armchairs with red cloth cushions for superior people. From the packing-cases had emerged some Indian clubs, […], and all these articles […] made a scattered and untidy decoration that Mrs. Clough assiduously dusted and greatly cherished.

   The cleaning lady needs a stool to dust the cupboard.

2. (intransitive) To remove dust; to clean by removing dust.

   Dusting always makes me cough.

3. (intransitive) Of a bird, to cover itself in sand or dry, dusty earth.
4. (transitive) To spray or cover something with fine powder or liquid.

   The mother dusted her baby's bum with talcum powder.

5. (chiefly US slang) To leave; to rush off.
   • 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin 2011, page 75:

     He added in a casual tone: ‘The girl can dust. I'd like to talk to you a little, soldier.’

6. To reduce to a fine powder; to levigate.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sprat to this entry?)

• dust off
• duster
• dust bunny

• vacuum cleaner

• UDTs, duts, stud

• doust, duste, doste, dyste

Forms with a long vowel are from Old English dūst, from Proto-Germanic *dunstą. Forms with a short vowel are from Old English *dust, from Proto-Germanic *dustą.

• IPA^(key): /dust/, /duːst/

dust (uncountable)

1. dust, powder
2. dirt, grit
3. (figuratively) iota, modicum

• dusten (rare)
• dusty

• English: dust
• Scots: dust, dist

• “dū̆st (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-04.

Back-formation of dustet, from Old Norse dust (dust particle)

dust m (definite singular dusten, indefinite plural duster, definite plural dustene)

1. (derogatory) dork, moron, fool

• dustemikkel
• tomsing
• tosk
• tufs
• støv

From Old Norse dust.

dust f or m (definite singular dusta or dusten, indefinite plural duster, definite plural dustene)

1. dust (fine, dry particles)

• “dust” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Old Norse dust (dust particle), compare with dustete

dust m (definite singular dusten, indefinite plural dustar, definite plural dustane)

1. (derogatory) dork, moron, fool

• dustemikkel
• tomsing
• tosk
• tufs
• støv

From Old Norse dust.

dust f (definite singular dusta, indefinite plural duster, definite plural dustene)

1. dust (fine, dry particles)

• “dust” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Proto-Germanic *dunstą (“dust, vapour”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰew- (“vapour, smoke”). Akin to Hindi धुआं (dhuān, “smoke”), Middle Dutch dost, donst, duust (Dutch dons, duist), Old High German tunst, dunst (German Dunst), Low German dust, Icelandic dust, Norwegian dust, Danish dyst.

• IPA^(key): /duːst/

dūst n

1. dust; powder; mill dust

• Middle English: dust, doust
  • English: dust
  • Scots: dust, dist

dust n

1. dust particle

• Icelandic: dust
• Faroese: dust
• Norwegian: dust
• Swedish: dust
• Danish: dyst

• dust in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

dust m (genitive singular dust, no plural)

1. dust

• Also used figuratively for corpse.

• duslach
• stùr

• dustach
• dustaig
• dustair

dust c

1. side; one half (left or right, top or bottom, front or back, etc.) of something or someone.
2. to level;

• dustê
• dusta