# dust

Pronunciation: say "DUST" /dʌst/

## Noun

1. Fine, dry particles of dirt or other matter that float in the air, rise in clouds, or settle on surfaces.
   - Simple: Tiny, dry bits of dirt or other stuff that float in the air or lie on surfaces.
   - _She wiped a thick film of dust off the windowsill._
   - _Desert winds filled the sky with fine dust for days._
3. A fine powder produced when any substance is broken down into very small particles.
   - Simple: Any solid that has been ground down into a fine powder.
   - _The explosion reduced the rock to a gray dust._
   - _Workers swept up the metal dust from the workshop floor._
5. Fine solid grains in outer space, mostly smaller than a micron and made largely of silicates and carbon compounds, that absorb and scatter starlight.
   - Simple: Tiny bits of matter floating in space between the stars.
   - _Interstellar dust scatters and absorbs starlight, reddening the objects behind it._
   - _Astronomers map cosmic dust to correct their brightness measurements._
6. An act of sprinkling fine powder, or the light layer of powder so produced.
   - Simple: A light scattering of fine powder over something.
   - _A final dust of paprika gives the deviled eggs their color._
   - _The makeup artist finished with a dust of translucent powder across the actor's forehead._
7. The earth or ground, especially in literary use, often as the place where the dead are buried. *(literary)*
   - Simple: The ground or earth, in poems and old writing, often where dead people lie buried.
   - _The pilgrims knelt and pressed their hands to the ancient dust._
   - _Empires rise and fall, and their cities sink back into the dust._
8. The human body seen as mortal earth, especially what remains of it after death or the earth of the grave where it lies.
   - Simple: What a body becomes after death, or the earth of the grave. Used in serious or religious language.
   - _He spoke of how all flesh eventually crumbles into dust._
   - _At the funeral, the pastor reminded everyone that we all return to dust._
10. Something considered worthless, trivial, or of no lasting value or importance.
   - Simple: Something seen as worthless or completely without value.
   - _Compared with her freedom, the inheritance felt like so much dust._
   - _He came to see worldly success as little more than dust._
11. A single act of cleaning a surface or object by removing the dust from it.
   - Simple: A quick cleaning where you wipe dust off things.
   - _The mantel could use a dust before the guests arrive._
   - _He gave the bookshelf a thorough dust._

## Verb

2. To remove dust from a surface or object by wiping or brushing it, or to do this as part of household cleaning.
   - Simple: To clean dust off things by wiping or brushing them.
   - _We dust the bookshelves once a week._
   - _She dusted the mantelpiece with a soft rag._
4. To sprinkle a fine powder, such as sugar, flour, or makeup, lightly over something so that it is thinly covered.
   - Simple: To lightly cover something with a fine powder, like sugar on a cake.
   - _Before the party, she dusted her cheeks with a shimmering powder._
   - _Small planes dust the cotton fields with insecticide every summer._
12. To defeat an opponent thoroughly and decisively, especially in a game or contest. *(slang, US)*
   - Simple: To beat someone very easily and completely in a game or fight.
   - _The champion dusted every challenger who stepped onto the court._
   - _The veterans expect to dust the rookies in their first sparring match._
13. To put to death; to kill. *(slang, US)*
   - Simple: To kill someone.
   - _He swore he'd dust the man who betrayed him._
   - _Police believe the cartel dusted two rivals that week._
15. To cover oneself in sand or dry, dusty earth, as a bird does.
   - Simple: When a bird rolls in dry earth or sand to clean its feathers.
   - _Quail often dust in shallow hollows they scrape in the ground._
   - _The chicken settled into the warm soil and began to dust._
16. To strike or beat; to give a thrashing. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: To hit or beat someone hard.
17. In baseball, to pitch the ball close to a batter on purpose, forcing the batter to back away from the plate.
   - Simple: In baseball, to throw a pitch close to the batter on purpose to push them back.
   - _The veteran starter wasn't afraid to dust a crowding hitter._
   - _He dusted the rookie who had homered off him in his previous at-bat._

## Noun

9. A noisy commotion, fuss, or quarrel. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A big noisy fuss or argument.

## Verb

14. To cover or soil with dust; to make dusty. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To make something dirty by covering it with dust.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A humble, lowly, or wretched state of life.
- (verb) To depart in a hurry; to rush off.
- (noun) Household waste; trash or refuse.
- (noun) Tiny amounts of cryptocurrency in a wallet, too small to be worth spending because the transaction fee would exceed their value.
- (verb) To send minuscule amounts of cryptocurrency to a wallet in an attempt to identify its owner.
- (noun) In mathematics, a fractal set of points that is totally disconnected, so that its only connected pieces are single points.
- (noun) Flour for baking.
- (noun) A lone tiny speck, as of soil or powder.
- (noun) Money or cash, from the idea of gold dust.
- (verb) To gulp a drink down fast.
- (verb) To grind something into very fine powder.

## Origin

From Middle English "dust," from Old English "dūst" (dust, dried earth reduced to powder), from a fusion of Proto-Germanic *dustą (dust) and *dunstą (mist, evaporation), both probably from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (to smoke, raise dust). It is related to Dutch "duist" (pollen, dust), German "Dunst" (haze), and Latin "fūmus" (smoke, steam).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/dust (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).