when the dust has settled


Also, after or once the dust settles. When matters have calmed down, as in The merger is complete, and when the dust has settled we can start on new projects. This idiom uses dust in the sense of “turmoil” or “commotion,” a usage dating from the first half of the 1800s.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.