| 释义 |
▪ I. dust, n.1|dʌst|
Forms: 1– dust: also 3 (Orm.) dusst, 3–5 doust(e, 4 dost, 4–6 duste.
[OE. dúst (later prob. dust) = OFris. and EFris. dûst, OLG., MLG., LG. dust, MDu. donst, dunst, dûst fine flour, Kilian duyst, donst, dûst, mod.Du. duist meal-dust, bran, ON. dust dust, Da. dyst mill-dust. All these go back to an earlier dunst, whence also Ger. dunst vapour; the primary notion being app. that which rises or is blown in a cloud, like vapour, smoke, or dust. See Kluge, and Franck.]
1. a. Earth or other solid matter in a minute and fine state of subdivision, so that the particles are small and light enough to be easily raised and carried in a cloud by the wind; any substance comminuted or pulverized; powder. (Rarely in pl.)
Often extended to include ashes and other refuse from a house: cf. dust-bin, etc.
c825Vesp. Psalt. xvii[i]. 43 Swe swe dust biforan onsieme windes. c1000Sax. Leechd. I. 290 Ᵹedriᵹede & to swyðe smælon duste ᵹecnucude. c1205Lay. 27646 Þenne he þat dust [c 1275 doust] heȝe Aȝiueð from þere eorðe. 1340Ayenb. 108 Of motes and of doust wyþ oute tale. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii clix. (1495) 708 To clense houses of duste. c1450Two Cookery-bks. 112 Bray hem al to doust in a morter. 1583Hollyband Campo di Fior 367 Beate these upper hose that the dust maye come out. 1620Nottingham Rec. IV. 367 Presentmentes..for castinge theire dust and ashes into the highe way. 1760Wesley Jrnl. 19 Aug., We had..showers, which..laid the dust. 1886A. Winchell Walks & Talks Geol. Field 212 Clouds of cosmic dust intervene between us and the sun. 1894Daily News 26 June 8/3 Of the whole of the dusts tested, that from the Albion Colliery..excelled all others in violence and sensitiveness to explosion.
b. The fine or small particles separated in any process: cf. sawdust; spec. (see quot. 1828).
1552Huloet, Duste of corne, mettall, or anye other thinge that commeth of wyth fylynge and clensing. 1598Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1814) 179 (Jam.) Paying alss deir for dust and seidis as gif the samyn wes guid meill. 1644Digby Nat. Bodies (1645) I. 22 It will..swimme upon the water like dust of wood. 1794T. Davis Agric. Wilts in Archæol. Rev. (1888) Mar., Cave, or dust, the chaff of the wheat and oats which is generally given to the horse. 1828Craven Dial., Dust, the small particles separated from the oats in the act of shelling.
c. Applied to the pollen of flowers.
1776Withering Brit. Plants i. xxii, The fine dust or meal that is contained in the Tips, is thrown upon the Summit of the Pointal. 1807J. E. Smith Phys. Bot. 272 The Pollen, or Dust, is contained in the Anther. 1894H. Drummond Ascent of Man 301 The butterfly and the bee..carry the fertilizing dust to the waiting stigma.
2. With a and pl.
a. A grain of dust, a minute particle of dry matter;
b. in Cookery, etc., a small ‘pinch’ of something in the form of powder.
1593Shakes. Rich. II, ii. iii. 91 Why haue these banish'd..Legges Dar'd once to touch a Dust of Englands Ground? 1595― John iv. i. 93 A graine, a dust, a gnat, a wandering haire. 1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 105 'Tis impossible to put so much as one jot or dust unto bulk, beyond a set or bounded number. 1701Watts Horæ Lyr., True Monarchy 52 Wealth and fame A bubble or a dust. 1784M. Underwood Treat. Dis. Children (1799) I. 54 With, or without, a dust of grated nutmeg. a1854C. A. Southey Poet. Wks. (1867) 50 If a mote, a hair, a dust prepond On Inclination's side, down drops the scale.
c. (With a) A cloud of dust floating in the air, such as is raised by a vehicle driven or a crowd walking over dusty ground, or by sweeping, etc.
1570–81[see 4 and 5]. 1659D. Pell Impr. Sea 188 Oh what a dust do I raise. 1806Oracle in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1807) X. 53 To kick up the d―l of a dust in Rotten-row. Mod. What a dust you are making!
3. transf. and fig. (from 1.)
a. That to which anything is reduced by disintegration or decay; spec. the ‘ashes’, or mouldered remains of a dead body. Also in phrases denoting the condition of being dead and buried (laid in the dust, etc.).
a1000Martyrol. (E.E.T.S.) 74 Þæt hi mihton mid heora handum ræcan ond niman þæs halᵹan dustes. c1350Will. Palerne 4124 Many a day hade i be ded and to dust roted. 1388Wyclif Ps. xxi[i]. 16 Thou hast brouȝt forth me in to the dust of deth. 1602Shakes. Ham. v. i. 225 Why may not imagination trace the Noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping a bunghole? 1676I. Mather Hist. K. Philip's War (1862) 38 That Great Author, unto whose dust..I owe a sacred Reverence. 1750Gray Elegy xi, Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust? 1803Med. Jrnl. IX. 263 One, without whose friendly aid the hand which writes this would long since have been in the dust. 1869Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xi. §2. 40 Worthier dust lies east and west of him.
b. Applied to the mortal frame of man (usually in reference to Gen. ii. 7, iii. 19).
c1000ælfric Gen. iii. 19 For þan þe þu eart dust, and to dust wyrst. Ibid. xviii. 27 Nu ic æne begann to sprecanne to minum Drihtene þonne ic eom dust and axe. a1175Cott. Hom. 223 Þu æart dust, and þu awenst to duste. 1388Wyclif Ps. cii[i]. 14 He bithouȝte that we ben dust. c1450tr. De Imitatione iii. ix. 76 Þouȝ I be dust & asshen. 1548–9(Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Burial, Earth to earth, asshes to asshes, dust to dust. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 11, How covetous, how proude is dust and ashes of dust and earth. 1814Cary Dante, Par. ii. 133 The soul, that dwells within your dust. 18..Sir R. Grant Hymn, ‘O worship the King’ v, Frail children of dust, And feeble as frail.
c. In phrases denoting a condition of humiliation.
a1340Hampole Psalter Cant. 501 Raysand þe nedy out of dust. 1535Coverdale Ps. lxxi[i]. 9 His enemies shal licke the dust. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, v. iii. 29 Now France, thy glory droopeth to the dust. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 416 The Power..That rais'd us from the dust and plac't us here. 1718Watts Ps. li. iii. vi, My soul lies humbled in the dust. 1850Tennyson In Mem. Prol. iii, Thou wilt not leave us in the dust. 1894C. N. Robinson Brit. Fleet 186 The Navy that..humbled to the dust the pride of France.
d. As the type of that which is worthless.
a1300Cursor M. 23786 For a littel lust, A druri þat es bot a dust. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 282 Thus whiles they search for gold and silver, they search for dust and sand. 1694Acc. Sev. Late Voy. ii. (1711) 168 A Long-boat he [the whale] values no more than Dust. 1818Jas. Mill Brit. India II. iv. ix. 296 The rights conferred by charter [were] treated as dust.
e. In other figurative uses.
1620T. Granger Syntag. Logic. 382 Besprinkled with the powder, or dust of veniall imperfections. 1682Earl of Anglesea Pref. to Whitelocke's Mem., The dust of action [had] never fallen on his gown. 1699Bentley Phal. (1836) II. 29 The very dust of his writings is gold.
f. dust and ashes (in allusion to the legend of the Dead Sea Fruit): used to indicate severe disappointment or disillusionment.
1902W. James Var. Relig. Exper. vi. 143 Trustful self-abandonment to the joys that freely offer has entirely departed from both Epicurean and Stoic; and what each proposes is a way of rescue from the resultant dust-and-ashes state of mind. 1911Beerbohm Zuleika D. xxi. 310 But there was no spark of triumph now in her eyes; only a deep melancholy; and in her mouth a taste as of dust and ashes. 1930A. Huxley Vulgarity in Literature iii. 13 The spirit of the time..demands that we should ‘press with strenuous tongue against our palate’ not only joy's grape, but every Dead Sea fruit. Even dust and ashes must be relished. 1945― Let. 2 Apr. (1969) 518 The most wildly romantic adventures all turned into dust and ashes.
4. Phrases. to shake the dust off one's feet (in allusion to Matt. x. 14, etc.). to throw dust in the eyes of: to confuse, mislead, or dupe by making ‘blind’ to the actual facts of the case. to bite the dust: to fall to the ground; esp. to fall wounded or slain (see also bite v. 16). For other phrases, see senses 3 and 5.
c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. x. 14 Asceacaþ þæt dust of eowrum fotum. 1382Wyclif Matt. x. 14 Ȝee goynge forth fro that hous, or citee, smytith awey the dust fro ȝoure feet. 1581G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. i. (1586) 27 b, They doe nothing else but raise a dust to doe out their owne eies. 1612Crt. & Times Jas. I (1849) I. 169 To countermine his underminers, and, as he termed it, to cast dust in their eyes. 1767Franklin Wks. (1887) IV. 79 It required a long discourse to throw dust in the eyes of common sense. 1856C. J. Andersson Lake Ngami 94 In the course of half an hour, he had twice bitten the dust. Ibid. 363 He..had made numerous lions bite the dust. 1862Colenso Pentateuch 6, I was not able long to throw dust in the eyes of my own mind and do violence to the love of truth in this way.
5. a. fig. (from 2 c.) Confusion, disturbance, commotion, turmoil (as of a conflict in which much dust is raised); formerly chiefly in phr. to raise a dust, to make a disturbance; now only with conscious reference to the literal sense (exc. as in b).
c1570Marr. Wit & Science v. v. in Hazl. Dodsley II. 390 A doughty dust these four boys will do. 1649Bp. Hall Cases Consc. (1650) 220 This particular concerning Tithes hath raised no little dust in the Church of God. 1700T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. Ser. & Com. 118 That quarrel and raise a Dust about nothing. 1784Cowper Task iii. 161 Great contest follows, and much learned dust Involves the combatants. 1845M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 4 Entering heart and soul into the dust and heat of the Church's war with the world.
b. Hence (slang or colloq.) A disturbance, uproar, ‘row’, ‘shindy’.
1753A. Murphy Gray's-Inn Jrnl. No. 50 Mr. Buck..will..then adjourn to kick up a Dust. 1774Westm. Mag. II. 380 Several of the company, not satisfied..in the language of the Bucks, kicked up a dust. 1805F. D. Romney in Naval Chron. XIV. 493 This dust has cut me up. 1859De Quincey Ceylon Wks. XII. 16 Soon there would be a dust with the new master.
6. slang. Money, cash; esp. in phr. down with the († your) dust.
[1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 23 b, Neuer wery to labour for this erthly dust & rychesse.] 1607G. Wilkins Miseries Enforced Marr. iv. in Hazl. Dodsley IX. 531 Come, down with your dust. 1691H. Maydman in Naval Chron. XV. 210 He..is not willing to down with his dust. 1753Smollett Ct. Fathom (1813) I. 122, I have more dust in my fob than all these powdered sparks put together. a1845Hood Dean & Chapter ii, And make it come down with the dust.
7. = dust-brand.
In recent Dicts.
8. Comb.
a. attrib. Consisting of or relating to dust, as dust-atomy, dust-bath, dust-cloud, dust-haze, dust-heap (also fig.), dust-particle, dust-screen, dust-spout, dust-whirl; used for the reception or conveyance of dust, as dust-basket, dust-cart, dust-cellar, dust-wharf, dust-yard (also fig.).
b. objective and obj. genitive, as dust-catcher, dust-collector, dust-contractor, dust-shovelling, dust-sifter, dust-sifting, dust-throwing; dust-catching, dust-free, dust-laying, dust-licking, dust-producing, dust-proof, dust-raising adjs.c. instrumental and locative, as dust-begrimed, dust-born, dust-clogged, dust-covered, dust-creeping, dust-filled, dust-laden, dust-polluted, dust-soiled adjs.d. similative, as dust-dry, dust-grey, dust-white adjs.; also dust-like adj.
1839Bailey Festus vi. (1848) 59 Are not all equal as *dust-atomies?
1626T. Loate in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. iv. 478 George's desk, and his sword, and a *dust basket.
1891C. T. C. James Rom. Rigmarole 33 Taking a *dust-bath there in the centre of the roadway.
1870Bryant Iliad I. xi. 339 Blood-stained and *dust-begrimed.
1598Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. ii. Imposture 483 Till..Death..Thy *dust-born body turn to dust again.
1776Entick London I. 187 A tumbrel or *dust-cart. 1812Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 21 Every species of carriage from the chariot to the dust-cart.
1939D. R. G. Crawford Gas Producer Operator's Handbk. v. 70 The simple gas-cleaning plant..is for use..where a clean cool gas is required... Where hot raw gas is required the complete cleaning plant is replaced by a static *dust-catcher. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 273/1 Dust catcher, a chamber in which dust is extracted from furnace gases by causing a sudden change in the direction of the gas stream. 1953D. J. O. Brandt Manuf. Iron & Steel viii. 64 This will normally lead direct to the dust-catcher.
1902Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 428/1 A *dust-catching apparatus has been..erected at Edinburgh.
1894H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Romance xxxi. 293 The bushranger's *dust-clogged brow became corrugated.
1849Whittier Wife of Manoah 16 The thick *dust-cloud closed o'er all.
1851Mayhew Lond. Lab. (1861) II. 188 (Hoppe) The *dust-contractors are likewise the contractors for the cleansing of the streets.
a1847Eliza Cook Old Clock i, Thy *dust-covered face.
1580Sidney Arcadia (1622) 97 Such a *dust-creeping worme as I am.
1879Browning Ned Bratts 4 Ponds drained *dust-dry.
1908Westm. Gaz. 25 July 3/2 A man with a *dust-filled throat.
1925Shaw & Owens Smoke Probl. Gt. Cities xi. 211 When breathing dust-laden air, it is only after long periods of quiet breathing that the air from the deep parts of the lungs is *dust free. 1934Discovery July 184/1 Bringing the surfaces together in a clean and dust-free condition.
1882Ouida Maremma I. 51 The misty scorching *dust-grey shores.
1925Shaw & Owens Smoke Probl. Gt. Cities x. 197 Smoke or dust is normally dispersed in an upward direction..and it is evident from ordinary observations of *dust haze that the upper limit is sometimes very well defined. 1945Finito! Po Valley Campaign 36 In the dust-haze..factories..collapsed in ruins.
1654Trapp Comm. Ps. xiii. 8 Such *dust-heaps are found in every corner. 1901Westm. Gaz. 1 May 3/2 The Salvation Army deserves to be helped in its work of sifting the dust-heap of our lowest social strata. 1940R. G. Collingwood Ess. Metaphys. 120 The distinction between truth and falsehood is part of that antiquated lumber which has at last..been thrown on the dust-heap.
a1847Eliza Cook Grandfather's Stick xi, The *dust-laden carpets.
1899Westm. Gaz. 18 July 2/1 Water-carts sprayed the road with grateful *dust-laying streams. 1902Ibid. 11 Sept. 7/3 Oil is the latest dust-laying agent.
1808R. A. D. To France in Poet. Reg. 1806–7, 170 Blood-drinking tyrants, or *dust-licking slaves!
1621Lady M. Wroth Urania 227 *Dust-like Dispaire may with me liue.
1887Pall Mall G. 10 Aug. 5/1 Operatives engaged in *dust-producing trades.
1869Rep. Comm. Agric. 1868 (U.S.) 15 The museum has been partly filled with absolutely *dust-proof cases. 1882Leisure Hour 414/2 The fittings are massive and dust-proof. 1898J. Southward Mod. Printing I. iv. 26 One of the most useful recent innovations is to make the racks ‘dust-proof’. 1903Dust-proof [see benny1]. 1934Archit. Rev. LXXV. 142/2 Dust-proof electric light fittings are available.
1903B. Harraden Kath. Frensham 272 A long, straggling, *dust-raising line of about 50 conveyances. 1908Westm. Gaz. 22 Dec. 4/2 On the mere off⁓chance of minimising in an infinitesimal degree their dust-raising propensities. 1963P. Drackett Motor Rallying i. 10 There were even dust-raising tests and noise checks.
1899W. H. Maxwell Removal of Town Refuse vii. 175 *Dust screens are ineffective. 1918W. Owen Let. 15 June (1967) 559, I have now a waterproof tent with long grass & buttercups all round to act as dustscreens.
1889Pall Mall G. 5 Mar. 3/1 The female *dust-sifters had just completed their ablutions.
1926T. E. Lawrence Seven Pillars (1935) iii. xxxv. 205 Two *dust-spouts, tight and symmetrical chimneys, advanced. 1937A. Huxley Let. 3 June (1969) 422 Western Texas, which we crossed in the midst of a premature heatwave (dust-spouts in a temperature of 105° in the shade).
1890Pall Mall G. 26 Aug. 2/3 The Ottoman art of *dust-throwing in the eyes of Europe.
1887Courier 16 June 2/2 To let or sell to the Board a *dust-wharf.
1886Jrnl. Franklin Inst. CXXI. 247 (Cent.) The formation of a *dust-whirl as it suddenly bursts upon you in the open street.
1923E. Sitwell Bucolic Comedies 48 And in the street *dust-white and lean, Two black apes bear her palanquin. 1938W. de la Mare Memory 16 Dust-white hedge.
a1852Mayhew London Labour (1861) II. 216/1 The *dust-yards must not be confounded with the ‘night-yards’. 1854Dickens Hard T. ii. ix. 232 Her father was usually sifting and sifting at his parliamentary cinder-heap in London..and was still hard at it in the national dustyard. 1904Daily Chron. 27 Sept. 8/2 In a few odd corners of London there still exist dustyards in which the refuse of the great city is sifted and sorted.
e. Special combs.: dust-ball, a concretion of the dust of corn sometimes formed in the intestine of the horse, and giving rise to disease; dust-bowl orig. U.S., a region subject to drought where, as a result of the loss or absence of plant cover, the wind has eroded the soil and made the land unproductive; hence, any region that is arid or unproductive; also attrib.; dust-brush, a brush for removing dust from furniture, etc.; dust-cap, a cap (cap n.1 12) to protect something from dust; dust-chamber (in an ore-roasting furnace), a closed chamber in which the heavier products of combustion are collected; dust-cloak, a cloak worn to keep off the dust (so dust-coat, dust-gown, dust-wrap); dust-cloth, (a) a cloth for wiping off dust (= duster 1); (b) a cloth placed over something to keep off dust; dust-coat: see dust-cloak above; dust-colour, the colour of the ordinary dust of the ground, a dull light brown; hence dust-coloured adj.; dust-core Electr., a core of magnetic powder in which the insulating properties of the binding agent result in reduced core losses; dust-counter, an instrument for counting the dust particles in a known volume of air; dust-cover, dust cover, a cover to protect something from dust; spec. a detachable paper cover or jacket in which a new book is normally issued and which often contains information about the book or its author; also fig.; dust-cup (see quot.); dust-destructor: see destructor 2; dust-devil: see devil 11; dust-flow, a stream or landslide of volcanic ashes saturated with water; † dust-gold, gold dust; dust-gown: see dust-cloak above; dust-guard, a contrivance to keep off dust from the axle and bearings of a wheel, or on a bicycle from the dress of the rider; dust-hole, a hole or receptacle in which dust and refuse are collected, a dust-bin; dust-jacket, dust jacket = jacket n. 2 b (cf. dust-cover); dust-louse, an insect of the genus Psocus; dust-pan, dustpan, a utensil for catching dust as it is swept from a floor, etc.; hence dustpanful, as much as a dust-pan will hold; dust-plate (see quot.); dust-sheet, a sheet for covering furniture or the like to keep off dust (cf. quot. 1888 s.v. sheet n.1 1 a); hence dust-sheeted a., covered or provided with a dust-sheet; dust-shoot, a place where dust and refuse are shot or deposited; dust-shot, the smallest size of shot; † dust-spawn, offspring or progeny of the dust; dust-storm, a tempest in which large clouds of dust are raised and carried along; † dust-tempered a., mingled or composed of dust; dust-thread, dust-way (nonce-wds.), applied to the stamens and pistils of flowers, as respectively producing and conveying the pollen (see 1 c); dust-trap, something in or on which dust collects; also attrib.; dust-wind, a wind bringing dust-storms; dust-woman, a woman employed in sifting dust and refuse; † dust-worm, a ‘worm of the dust’, a mean or grovelling person; dust-wrap: see dust-cloak above; dust-wrapper = wrapper n. 1 b (cf. dust-cover). See also dust-bin, etc.
1936Durant (Okla.) Daily Democrat 26 Mar. 1/7 The panhandle ‘*dustbowl’ was outside the path of the wind. 1936Dallas Morning News 26 Dec., They say he nearly defeated himself by urging Landon's election among the dust bowl farmers. 1937Ann. Reg. 1936 288 Some pastoral areas where over-feeding of live-stock had completely killed the pasturage were called ‘dust-bowls’. 1951B. Russell New Hopes for Changing World 33 Will all the arable land be turned into dust-bowls as it has been in large parts of the United States? 1959Listener 20 Aug. 276/1 A more depressing picture, widely supported at the present time, is that Venus is an arid dust-bowl.
1828Webster, *Dust-brush.
1898Springtime Apr. 103/1 There are..five separate pieces in the *dust-cap alone. 1930Engineering 16 May 647/1 After screwing down the needle valve, disconnecting the pump and screwing on the dust cap, the strut is ready for use.
1883Truth 31 May 768/1 With our *dust-cloaks and some yards each of brown gauze, we defied the great Dust Demon.
1727Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Draught horse, They must with a *Dust-cloth wipe off all the Dust that lies on the Horse. 1884Tennyson Becket v. ii, A slut whose fairest linen seems Foul as her dust-cloth, if she used it.
1702C. Fiennes Journeys (1947) 261 The wind soone dry'd my *dust coate. 1872Punch 6 July 7/1 He arrives in a white dustcoat. 1916H. G. Wells Mr. Britling i. iii. 80 A lady in a motoring dust coat. Ibid. 86 The dust-coat lady. 1968J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 39 Dust-coat, any lightweight coat worn mainly to protect the clothes and not necessarily for warmth.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 3, Apes..both red, black, green, *dust-colour, and white ones.
1798Bloomfield Farmer's Boy (1837) 14 The small *dust-coloured beetle. 1861Dickens Gt. Expect. xliii, A man in a dust-coloured dress.
[1920U.S. Pat. 1,523,109 Telephone loading coil cores of the so-called ‘dust’ type.] 1924S. R. Roget Dict. Electr. Terms 70/1 *Dust core, an iron core for induction in telephone lines in which eddy current and hysteresis losses are negligible. 1928Trans. Amer. Inst. Electr. Engin. XLVII. 436/2 The commercial use of permalloy-dust-core loading coils..has brought about a number of very important improvements. 1954E. Molloy Radio & Telev. Engin. Ref. Bk. xxx. 11 Cores made of ferrites..are commercially available now, and but for their high cost would have replaced the dust core over the frequency range in which they are advantageous. 1970D. F. Shaw Introd. Electronics (ed. 2) v. 87 These materials [sc. ferrites] have many advantages over the earlier ‘dust-core’ materials.
1892J. Aitken in Proc. R. Soc. Edinb. XVIII. 39 A simple pocket *dust-counter. 1936Discovery Nov. 348/1 The Aitken dust-counter has been considered by some to give counts too high for the actual dust particles.
1902D. Salomons in A. C. Harmsworth et al. Motors vi. 95 Every car should have mackintosh raincovers..; also *dust-covers, which are useful on many occasions. 1921Sat. Westm. Gaz. 17 Sept. 14/1 The dust-cover..suggests that the book will be of service not only in schools but also as ‘an entertainment for home-reading’. 1923Times Lit. Suppl. 22 Feb. 126/1 The lurid dust cover. 1942‘N. Shute’ Pied Piper 49 Dozing uneasily in the chair, half-covered by the dust-cover from the bed. 1962Which? (Car Suppl.) Oct. 138/2 Rubber dust covers on front brake cylinders disintegrated. 1968Listener 1 Aug. 144/2 Soon after you came back from your recent honeymoon, your wife was quoted in one newspaper as saying that she must help you to take the dust covers off certain areas of your personality.
1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 99 [The] *Dust Cup..a guard fitted round the fusee arbors of watches and chronometers to exclude dirt.
1888Kipling Plain Tales from Hills 43 The wheeling choking ‘*dust-devils’ in the skirts of the flying storm. 1892R. Kipling East & West 31 in Barrack-room Ballads 77 It's up and over the Tongue of Jagai, as blown dust-devils go. 1926T. E. Lawrence Seven Pillars (1935) iii. xxxv. 205 At last I saw that part of the yellow cloud off Serd was coming slowly against the wind in our direction, raising scores of dust devils before its feet. 1955H. Klein Winged Courier vii. 46 The airmen experienced a new African flying hazard in the form of dust devils, some of which rose as high as 8,000 ft.
1904Science 1 July 24/2 Clouds of steam rising from the crater, accompanied from time to time by *dust-flows.
1665Phil. Trans. I. 117 A..way of washing out very small *Dust-gold.
1802Mrs. J. West Infidel Father I. 23 Her homespun *dust-gown.
1888Engineer LXV. 297 The *dust-guard is made of sycamore wood, and is either in one or two parts.
1811L. M. Hawkins C'tess & Gertr., *Dust hole. 1836–9Dickens Sk. Boz, Streets i. A rakish-looking cat..bounding first on the water-butt, then on the dusthole.
1928S. J. Looker's Booklover's Catal. Jan. 5 The Life and Letters of Emily Dickinson..in *dust jacket. 1928Observer 24 June 8 The book is sent out by Constable's in a particularly attractive dust-jacket. 1957Times 25 Nov. 11/3 Henry Fielding's Tom Jones in a practical transparent dust jacket at 12s. 6d.
1785F. Hopkinson Misc. Essays (1792) II. 158 It was soon after swept out with the common dirt of the room, and carried in a *dust pan to the yard. 1857Dickens Dorrit xxv. 125 Ladies would fly out at their doors crying, ‘Mr. Baptist—tea-pot!’ ‘Mr. Baptist—dust-pan!’ 1861― Gt. Expect. xii, She..got out the dustpan..and began cleaning up to a terrible extent. 1966J. Betjeman High & Low 17 Brooms and plastic dustpans hang from the ceiling.
1882F. A. Kemble Rec. Later Life I. 60 Three and four *dustpanfuls a day would be swept away. 1965M. Echard I met Murder (1967) xvii. 137 The maid told me she swept up dead roaches by the dustpanful.
1881Raymond Mining Gloss., *Dust-plate, a vertical iron plate, supporting the slag-runner of an iron blast furnace.
1854Mrs. Gaskell Let. 17 May (1966) 290 Not even a book to beguile the time—five fathoms deep they lie beneath *dust-sheets. 1907Westm. Gaz. 17 Aug. 4/3 The big town-house was depressing in its shroud of dust-sheets. 1928Daily Mail 25 July 4/2 Hundreds of dust sheets, 2 yards wide by 23/4 yards long, for covering furniture, are being sold by a West End firm. 1936W. de la mare Wind blows Over 159 Having muffled the furniture with their sepulchral dust-sheets.
1917C. S. Lewis Let. 18 July (1966) 38 Some of the rooms were all *dust-sheeted.
1883Pall Mall G. 27 Dec. 12/1 Each tenement has a separate..coal-place, copper and *dust-shoot.
1800Sporting Mag. XVI. 273 Used to kill small birds for their plumage, with *dust shot. 1863Bates Nat. Amazon xi. (1864) 352 Mine was a double-barrel, with one charge of BB, and one of dust-shot.
1598Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. ii. Babylon 178 See..these *dust-spawn, feeble dwarfs.
1879Mrs. A. G. F. E. James Ind. Househ. Managem. xii. 82 *Dust-storms come on often very quickly. 1936‘F. Gerald’ Millionaire in Memories ii. 42 At Port Pirie a dust-storm swept down upon us.
1627–47Feltham Resolves i. xi. 30 Poore *dust-tempered man.
1879J. Grant in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 95/1 He showed that the stamina, or *dust-threads, were the male, and the pistilla, or *dust-ways, the female parts of the plants.
1905Daily Chron. 17 Apr. 8/2 Fussy, *dust-trap trimming near the hem. 1906Westm. Gaz. 15 Jan. 2/1 Hailstones, the slowly falling flakes of snow, drops of rain, are literally dust-traps. 1967R. Rendell New Lease of Death i. 8 The primrose venetian blinds..were dust-traps.
1901Geogr. Jrnl. XVIII. 91 Observations, outline and relief of the region,..temperature in the interior, *dust-winds, temperatures of wells and springs [etc.].
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) II. 162 The calling of the dustman and *dustwoman is not so much as noticed in the population returns.
1621Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iii. xii. (1651) 116 Never satisfied, a slave, a *dust-worme.
1932Book-Collector's Q. Apr.–June 10 The somewhat more humble ‘*dust-wrapper’ is to be found in the catalogues of the greater and more conscious booksellers. 1934Punch 24 Oct. 476/2 The love-interest which I guessed (from the dust-wrapper) must be contained somewhere.
Add:[1.] d. An act of dusting or of cleaning by wiping away the dust. colloq.
1972F. Warner Maquettes 16 Could do with a dust, this place. 1980P. Lively in P. Woodford You can't keep out Darkness 158 It's as much as I can manage to have a dust of the ornaments just now.
▸ dust bunny n. colloq. (chiefly N. Amer.) a ball of dust and fluff, of a type often found behind or beneath furniture.
1952Newark (Ohio) Advocate & Amer. Tribune 25 June 4/4 He [sc. a child] can be happy enough if there are occasional *dust bunnies under the bed, but he will be miserable indeed if we neglect to safeguard his place in a free society. 2001H. Holmes Secret Life of Dust i. 12 The dust bunnies that skulk beneath the couch and behind the refrigerator contain everything from space diamonds to Saharan dust to the bones of dinosaurs.
▸ dust mite n. = house-dust mite n. at house n.1 Additions.
1973Practitioner May 664 (title) *Dust-mite urticaria. 1996S. Lavery et al. Hamlyn Encycl. Complementary Health 7 One theory is that childhood asthma is on the increase because of increased traffic fumes, and also dust mites that are present in everybody's homes.
▪ II. † dust, n.2 Obs. rare.
[cf. dust v.2: also doust.]
A stroke, blow.
1611Cotgr., Excez de main non garnie..a cuffe, or dust with the fist.
▪ III. dust, v.1
[f. dust n.1: cf. ON. dusta to dust.
The connexion of senses 7 and 11 is obscure, and it is not certain that they belong here. Cf. dust v.2]
†1. intr. To be dusty; to rise as dust. Obs.
a1225Ancr. R. 314 Ȝif hit dusteð swuðe, heo vlaskeð water þeron, & swopeð hit ut awei.
†2.
a. trans. To reduce to dust, or to small particles like dust.
b. intr. To crumble to dust.
c1440Promp. Parv. 135/2 Dustyn, pulverizo. 1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Pouldrer, to dust. 1636W. Denny in Ann. Dubrensia (1877) 16 When thy name fades; Marble pillars shall Dust into nothing. 1686Goad Celest. Bodies iii. ii. 417 He can crumble a Showr into a Drisle, or Dust it into a Fog.
3. a. trans. To sprinkle with dust or powder.
1592Greene Art Conny Catch. ii. 19 He being thus dusted with meale. 1764Harmer Observ. xxix. vi. 288 Shimei's behaviour..who..threw stones, and dusted him with dust. 1769Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 33 Dust them with flour. 1859Tennent Ceylon II. viii. v. 367 Dusting themselves with sand.
b. refl. Of birds; also intr. for refl.
1789G. White Selborne ii. ix. (1853) 185 Let me hear..whether skylarks do not dust. 1872Black Adv. Phaeton x. 144 The partridges that were dusting themselves in the road. 1884T. Speedy Sport xv. 267 [Partridges] prefer, as a rule, places where they can ‘dust’ and bask in the sun.
c. to dust the eyes of (fig.: see dust n.1 4); also (slang or colloq.) to dust, in same sense.
1814Stock Exchange Law Open 11 This is termed ‘Dusting the public’. 1867Froude Ess. 401 Instead of dusting our eyes with sophistry.
4. a. To soil with dust; to make dusty.
1530Palsgr. 530/2 You have dusted your cappe, let one go brusshe it. 1624R. Skynner in Ussher's Lett. (1686), Dust thy self in the dust of their Feet. 1848Froude Nemesis of Faith (1849) 154 We go out..and dust our feet along its thoroughfares. 1886A. Lang Lett. Dead Authors 194 Dusting your ruffles among the old volumes on the sunny stalls.
†b. intr. To become dusty. Obs.
1625J. Phillips Way to Heaven 52 The Booke..lay dusting and out of vse.
5. To strew or sprinkle as dust.
1790Wedgwood in Phil. Trans. LXXX. 314 note, A little of it is applied, or even dusted only, on the bottom of a small cup made of clay. 1806Culina 74 Dust in a little flour. 1884G. H. Boughton in Harper's Mag. Sept. 528/1 We never dusted on enough [pepper] to please him.
6. a. To free from dust; to wipe or brush off the dust from.
1568North Gueuara's Diall Pr. (1619) 708/2 The French riddles (with which they dust their corne). a1577Gascoigne Flowers, etc. Wks. (1587) 180 Yea when he curried was and dusted slike and trimme. 1713Steele Guardian No. 60 ⁋2 It became my province once a week to dust them [books]. 1843Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 267 I went about sweeping and dusting. 1894Hall Caine Manxman 52 [She] was..dusting the big shells on the mantelpiece.
b. to dust a person's coat, jacket, etc.: to beat him soundly. colloq. (Cf. sense 7.)
1690W. Walker Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 154 I'll dust your coat for you. 1698Farquhar Love & a Bottle v. ii, Tell me presently..sirrah, or I'll dust the secret out of your jacket. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. I. 3 June, With a good oak sapling he dusted his doublet. 1807Eagle (Staunton, Va.) 28 Aug. 4/2 Go in peace, or I will dust thy jacket with this horse-whip. 1842Barham Ingol. Leg. 2nd Ser. 52 Old Shylock was making a racket, And threatening how well he'd dust every man's jacket. 1884L. J. Jennings in Croker Papers II. xiv. 49 The threat to dust the author's jacket, for the gratification of private malice. 1895‘Rosemary’ Under Chilterns i. 31 Master told me as 'ow 'ee'd dusted 'is jacket for 'im.
7. a. trans. To beat, thrash. Now colloq. or dial. b. intr. To strike, hit.[But the place of these is doubtful: cf. dust v.2] 1612tr. Benvenuto's Passenger (Farmer) If..she be good, to dust her often hath in it a singular..vertue to make her much better. c1612Chapman Iliad xvi. 544 Another stony dart As good as Hector's he let fly, that dusted in the neck Of Sthenelaus. 1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xxxix. 395 So she took and dusted us both with the hickry [sic]. 1950Time 30 Jan. 14/2 [Miners] dusted one of [the district leader's] lieutenants with an old shoe for trying to talk them back to work. 1970H. E. Roberts Third Ear 6/2 Dust v., beat up.
8. trans. To brush, shake, or rub off as dust.
1775S. J. Pratt Lib. Opinions (1783) IV. 63 Boy, dust away the crumbs with your hat. 1887Stevenson Underwoods i. xxxviii, A strenuous family dusted from its hands The sand of granite.
9. To pass (any one) on the road, so as to expose him to the dust of one's horse or wheels; to make one ‘take the dust’; to outride. U.S. and Colonial.
1890Boldrewood Col. Reformer (1891) 419 I could have dusted any of 'em with Ben.
10. intr. To ride or go quickly, hasten, hurry, make off; also, to dust it. ( Chiefly U.S. slang or colloq.)
1655H. Vaughan Silex Scint. i. Rules & Lessons (1858) 75 Stick thou To thy sure trot..Let folly dust it on, or lag behind. 1860Mesilla (Ariz.) Times 18 Oct. 1/2 The ‘gold seekers’ thought prudence the better part of valor and ‘got up and dusted’. 1884A. A. Putnam 10 Years Police Judge xvii. 166 He's throwing dust, but he dusted off with the horse all the same. 1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms II. xi. 190 And you're a going to dust out right away, you say? 1909J. R. Ware Passing Eng. 120/2, I quickly got inside, locked the door, and dusted out the back way.
†11. trans. To drink quickly, ‘toss off’ (liquor).
1673Shadwell Epsom Wells iii. Wks. 1720 II. 241 Clod⁓pate is to dust his stand of ale, and he must be bubbled. a1680Butler Rem. (1759) II. 447 A Prodigal..dusts his Estate, as they do a Stand of Ale in the North. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Dust it away, drink quick about.
12. to dust off.
a. intr. (See sense 10)
b. trans. = sense 6 a (orig. U.S.).
1948A. Huxley Ape & Essence (1949) 127 The charvessels can dust off the tables and wash the floors. 1959Economist 18 Apr. 218/1 The clerics are..dusting off their copies of Fox's Book of Martyrs.
c. To bring to ruin, defeat, kill; to discard, get rid of. slang (orig. U.S.).
1938H. Asbury Sucker's Progress xii. 385 He had been dusted off by Vanderbilt. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §27/5 Eliminate; discard; get rid of,..dust off. Ibid. §118/3 Kill; murder,..dust off. 1960Times 13 Dec. 4/1 They have always been dusted off in the inter⁓zone matches.
▪ IV. † dust, v.2 Obs.
Pa. tense 3–4 duste, deste.
[A ME. word, of which the earlier history does not appear.
The pa. tense deste beside duste, and the rime in Ferumbras, show that the u was ü, pointing to an OE. *dystan (:—*dustjan), of which, however, no examples have been found. The Norse words cited by Mätzner, Icel. dust a ‘tilt’, Sw. dust a ‘brush’ with any one, Da. dyst ‘tilting, fighting, shock’, appear to be later words, and are app. not related. Of an OE. dystan, early ME. düsten, the normal mod. Eng. repr. would be dist; but dust (cf. blush) would also be possible; in which case senses 7 and 11, under dust v.1, may possibly belong here, though the wide chronological gap is against this.]
1. trans. To cast forcibly or violently, fling, dash.
a1225St. Marher. 12 Ant duste him adunriht to þere eorðe. Ibid. 18 Þa warð þe reue wod, ant bed..dusten hire into þe grunde. a1225Leg. Kath. 984 Þu underfes þet an half, and dustes adun þet oðer. Ibid. 1094 He is godd seolf, þe duste deað under him. a1225Juliana 38 Ant te þreo children..beon idust in þe fur of þe ofne. c1315Shoreham 52 Thet..non harm hyne don deste, In mode.
b. intr. To dash, throw oneself violently.
c1320Sir Tristr. 2393 Vrgan lepe vnfain, Ouer þe bregge he deste.
2. To strike or hit with violence. See also dust v.1 7.
a1225Leg. Kath. 2025 Þis wes uneaðe iseid, þat an engel ne com..And duste hit [the wheel] a swuch dunt þat hit bigon to claterin. c1380Sir Ferumb. 2855 [He] heuid vp ys honde, & þar-wiþ an þe heued him duste [rime vuste ‘fist’]. |