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shake the dust from one's feet

 - 4 dictionary results

dust

  [duhst]
Use shake the dust from one's feet in a Sentence
–noun
1. earth or other matter in fine, dry particles.
2. a cloud of finely powdered earth or other matter in the air.
3. any finely powdered substance, as sawdust.
4. the ground; the earth's surface.
5. the substance to which something, as the dead human body, is ultimately reduced by disintegration or decay; earthly remains.
6. British.
a. ashes, refuse, etc.
b. junk 1 (def. 1).
7. a low or humble condition.
8. anything worthless.
9. disturbance; turmoil.
10. gold dust.
11. the mortal body of a human being.
12. a single particle or grain.
13. Archaic. money; cash.
–verb (used with object)
14. to wipe the dust from: to dust a table.
15. 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.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME; OE dūst; c. G Dunst vapor

Related forms:
dustless, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To shake the dust from one's feet
Slang Dictionary
dust

  1. in.
    to leave; to depart. : They dusted out of there at about midnight.
  2. tv.
    to defeat someone; to win out over someone. : We dusted the other team, eighty-seven to fifty-four.
  3. tv.
    to kill someone. (Underworld.) : The gang set out to dust the witnesses but got only one of them.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

dust  (n.)
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).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

shake the dust from one's feet

Depart in a hurry, especially from an unpleasant situation; also, leave forever. For example, I couldn't wait to shake the dust from my feet; I never wanted to see either of them again. This metaphoric term, alluding to moving one's feet fast enough to shake off dust, appears in several books of the Bible. [c. 1600]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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