to sprinkle with a powder or dust: to dust rosebushes with an insecticide.
16.
to strew or sprinkle (a powder, dust, or other fine particles): to dust insecticide on a rosebush.
17.
to soil with dust; make dusty.
–verb (used without object)
18.
to wipe dust from furniture, woodwork, etc.
19.
to become dusty.
20.
to apply dust or powder to a plant, one's body, etc.: to dust with an insecticide in late spring.
—Idioms
21.
bite the dust,
a.
to be killed, esp. in battle; die.
b.
to suffer defeat; be unsuccessful; fail: Another manufacturer has bitten the dust.
22.
dust off,
a.
Baseball. (of a pitcher) to throw the ball purposely at or dangerously close to (the batter).
b.
to take out or prepare for use again, as after a period of inactivity or storage: I'm going to dust off my accounting skills and try to get a job in the finance department.
c.
to beat up badly: The gang of hoodlums dusted off a cop.
23.
leave one in the dust, to overtake and surpass a competitor or one who is less ambitious, qualified, etc.: Don't be so meek, they'll leave you in the dust.
24.
lick the dust,
a.
to be killed; die.
b.
to humble oneself abjectly; grovel: He will resign rather than lick the dust.
25.
make the dust fly, to execute with vigor or speed: We turned them loose on the work, and they made the dust fly.
26.
shake the dust from one's feet, to depart in anger or disdain; leave decisively or in haste, esp. from an unpleasant situation: As the country moved toward totalitarianism, many of the intelligentsia shook the dust from their feet.
27.
throw dust in someone's eyes, to mislead; deceive: He threw dust in our eyes by pretending to be a jeweler and then disappeared with the diamonds.
O.E. dust, from P.Gmc. *dunstaz, from PIE *dheu- with a sense of "smoke, vapor" (cf. Skt. dhu- "shake," L. fumus "smoke"). The verb means both "to sprinkle with dust" (1592) and "to rid of dust" (1568). Sense of "to kill" is U.S. slang first recorded 1938. Dustbowl in reference to a drought-plagued region of the U.S. Midwest first recorded 1936. Dustup "fight" is from 1897; to dust (someone's) coat was ironical for "to beat (someone) soundly" (1690).
Dust\, n. [AS. dust; cf. LG. dust, D. duist meal dust, OD. doest, donst, and G. dunst vapor, OHG. tunist, dunist, a blowing, wind, Icel. dust dust, Dan. dyst mill dust; perh. akin to L. fumus smoke, E. fume. ?.]1. Fine, dry particles of earth or other matter, so comminuted that they may be raised and wafted by the wind; that which is crumbled too minute portions; fine powder; as, clouds of dust; bone dust. Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. --Gen. iii. 19. Stop! -- for thy tread is on an empire's dust. --Byron. 2. A single particle of earth or other matter. [R.] "To touch a dust of England's ground." --Shak. 3. The earth, as the resting place of the dead. For now shall sleep in the dust. --Job vii. 21. 4. The earthy remains of bodies once alive; the remains of the human body. And you may carve a shrine about my dust. --Tennyson. 5. Figuratively, a worthless thing. And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust. --Shak. 6. Figuratively, a low or mean condition. [God] raiseth up the poor out of the dust. --1 Sam. ii. 8. 7. Gold dust; hence: (Slang) Coined money; cash. Down with the dust, deposit the cash; pay down the money. [Slang] "My lord, quoth the king, presently deposit your hundred pounds in gold, or else no going hence all the days of your life. . . . The Abbot down with his dust, and glad he escaped so, returned to Reading." --Fuller. Dust brand (Bot.), a fungous plant (Ustilago Carbo); -- called also smut. Gold dust, fine particles of gold, such as are obtained in placer mining; -- often used as money, being transferred by weight. In dust and ashes. See under Ashes. To bite the dust. See under Bite, v. t. Toraise, or kick up, dust, to make a commotion. [Colloq.] To throw dust in one's eyes, to mislead; to deceive. [Colloq.]
Dust\, n. [AS. dust; cf. LG. dust, D. duist meal dust, OD. doest, donst, and G. dunst vapor, OHG. tunist, dunist, a blowing, wind, Icel. dust dust, Dan. dyst mill dust; perh. akin to L. fumus smoke, E. fume. ?.]1. Fine, dry particles of earth or other matter, so comminuted that they may be raised and wafted by the wind; that which is crumbled too minute portions; fine powder; as, clouds of dust; bone dust. Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. --Gen. iii. 19. Stop! -- for thy tread is on an empire's dust. --Byron. 2. A single particle of earth or other matter. [R.] "To touch a dust of England's ground." --Shak. 3. The earth, as the resting place of the dead. For now shall sleep in the dust. --Job vii. 21. 4. The earthy remains of bodies once alive; the remains of the human body. And you may carve a shrine about my dust. --Tennyson. 5. Figuratively, a worthless thing. And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust. --Shak. 6. Figuratively, a low or mean condition. [God] raiseth up the poor out of the dust. --1 Sam. ii. 8. 7. Gold dust; hence: (Slang) Coined money; cash. Down with the dust, deposit the cash; pay down the money. [Slang] "My lord, quoth the king, presently deposit your hundred pounds in gold, or else no going hence all the days of your life. . . . The Abbot down with his dust, and glad he escaped so, returned to Reading." --Fuller. Dust brand (Bot.), a fungous plant (Ustilago Carbo); -- called also smut. Gold dust, fine particles of gold, such as are obtained in placer mining; -- often used as money, being transferred by weight. In dust and ashes. See under Ashes. To bite the dust. See under Bite, v. t. Toraise, or kick up, dust, to make a commotion. [Colloq.] To throw dust in one's eyes, to mislead; to deceive. [Colloq.]
Storms of sand and dust sometimes overtake Eastern travellers. They are very dreadful, many perishing under them. Jehovah threatens to bring on the land of Israel, as a punishment for forsaking him, a rain of "powder and dust" (Deut. 28:24). To cast dust on the head was a sign of mourning (Josh. 7:6); and to sit in dust, of extreme affliction (Isa. 47:1). "Dust" is used to denote the grave (Job 7:21). "To shake off the dust from one's feet" against another is to renounce all future intercourse with him (Matt. 10:14; Acts 13:51). To "lick the dust" is a sign of abject submission (Ps. 72:9); and to throw dust at one is a sign of abhorrence (2 Sam. 16:13; comp. Acts 22:23).
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