Word for the day: dust

dust |dʌst|                                                                          *polvo (en Español)

DEFINITION

noun

1 [ mass noun ] fine, dry powder consisting of tiny particles of earth or waste matter lying on the ground or on surfaces or carried in the air: the car sent up clouds of dust.• [ with modifier ] any material in the form of tiny particles: coal dust.• [ in sing. ] a fine powder: he ground it into a fine dust.• [ in sing. ] a cloud of dust.• literary a dead person's remains: scatter my dust and ashes.• literary the mortal human body: the soul, that dwells within your dust.2 [ in sing. ] an act of dusting: a quick dust, to get rid of the cobwebs.

verb [ with obj. ]1 remove the dust or dirt from the surface of (something) by wiping or brushing it: I broke the vase I had been dusting | pick yourself up and dust yourself down | [ no obj. ] : she washed and dusted and tidied.• (dust something down/off) bring something out for use again after a long period of neglect: a number of aircraft will be dusted off and returned to flight.2 cover lightly with a powdered substance: roll out on a surface dusted with icing sugar.• sprinkle (a powdered substance) on to something: orange powder was dusted over the upper body.3 US informal beat up or kill someone: the officers dusted him up a little bit.
PHRASES
be done and dusted informal (of a project) be completely finished or ready.dust and ashes used to convey a feeling of great disappointment or disillusion about something: the party would be dust and ashes if he couldn't come.the dust settles things quieten down: she hoped that the dust would settle quickly and the episode be forgotten.eat someone's dust N. Amer. informal fall far behind someone in a competitive situation.gather (or collect ) dust remain unused: some professors let their computers gather dust.leave someone/thing in the dust surpass someone or something easily: today's modems leave their predecessors in the dust.not see someone for dust find that a person has made a hasty departure.kick up (a) dust informal create a disturbance.
DERIVATIVES
dustless adjective
ORIGIN Old English dūst, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch duist ‘chaff’.

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