dusts

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of dust.

   Researchers measured how quickly the industrial dusts dispersed in the air.

   Cosmic dusts of different compositions reveal where each cloud originated.

   Note

   A plural that mainly exists to tell kinds apart. Dust is ordinarily a mass noun, so the plural turns up when sorts or sources are being compared: industrial dusts, or the silicate and carbon dusts of outer space. An older countable use, now obsolete, treated a dust as a single grain, which made the plural simply 'grains'. For everyday dirt on a shelf, the singular remains the natural choice.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of dust.

   The cleaner dusts the picture frames before vacuuming the carpet.

   The baker dusts the finished tart with a fine layer of cocoa.

   Note

   Here one spelling carries two opposite jobs. When the object is a surface, a with-phrase tips the meaning: she dusts the shelves takes dust away, while he dusts the tart with cocoa puts powder on. When the object is the powder itself, it always means adding, as in she dusts flour over the board. Used without an object, it means cleaning, or, of a bird, bathing in dry earth.

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