| 释义 |
devil's dust
1. The flock to which old cloth is reduced by the machine called a devil; shoddy. (Originally the dust made in this process.)
1840Carlyle Misc. (1857) IV. 239 (D.) Does it beseem thee to weave cloth of devil's dust instead of true wool? 1851Gladstone Let. Ld. Aberdeen 7 Apr., Very like the cloth made in this country from what is called devil's dust. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) II. 30 The operation..sends forth choking clouds of dry pungent dirt and floating fibres—the real and original ‘devil's dust’. 1864Athenæum No. 1925. 364/3 Made up of as much devil's dust as flax.
2. Applied rhetorically to dust or powder of devilish invention or use.
1856Froude Hist. Eng. I. 42 [They] were to take care..that cloth put up for sale was true cloth, of true texture and weight..wine pure..flour unmixed with devil's dust. 1883H. Smart Hard Lines i. (Farmer) The snow-white walls..what a mess the devil's dust, as used by modern artillery, would make of them in these days. |