dust
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
dust
n 1: fine powdery material such as dry earth or pollen that can
be blown about in the air; "the furniture was covered with
dust"
2: the remains of something that has been destroyed or broken up
[syn: {debris}, {dust}, {junk}, {rubble}, {detritus}]
3: free microscopic particles of solid material; "astronomers
say that the empty space between planets actually contains
measurable amounts of dust"
v 1: remove the dust from; "dust the cabinets"
2: rub the dust over a surface so as to blur the outlines of a
shape; "The artist dusted the charcoal drawing down to a
faint image"
3: cover with a light dusting of a substance; "dust the bread
with flour"
4: distribute loosely; "He scattered gun powder under the wagon"
[syn: {scatter}, {sprinkle}, {dot}, {dust}, {disperse}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Dust \Dust\ (d[u^]st), n. [AS. dust; cf. LG. dust, D. duist meal
dust, OD. doest, donst, and G. dunst vapor, OHG. tunist,
dunist, a blowing, wind, Icel. dust dust, Dan. dyst mill
dust; perh. akin to L. fumus smoke, E. fume. [root]71.]
1. Fine, dry particles of earth or other matter, so
comminuted that they may be raised and wafted by the wind;
that which is crumbled to minute portions; fine powder;
as, clouds of dust; bone dust.
[1913 Webster]
Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
--Gen. iii.
19.
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Stop! -- for thy tread is on an empire's dust.
--Byron.
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2. A single particle of earth or other matter. [R.] "To touch
a dust of England's ground." --Shak.
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3. The earth, as the resting place of the dead.
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For now shall sleep in the dust. --Job vii. 21.
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4. The earthy remains of bodies once alive; the remains of
the human body.
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And you may carve a shrine about my dust.
--Tennyson.
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5. Figuratively, a worthless thing.
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And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust. --Shak.
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6. Figuratively, a low or mean condition.
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[God] raiseth up the poor out of the dust. --1 Sam.
ii. 8.
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7. Gold dust; hence: (Slang) Coined money; cash.
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{Down with the dust}, deposit the cash; pay down the money.
[Slang] "My lord, quoth the king, presently deposit your
hundred pounds in gold, or else no going hence all the
days of your life. . . . The Abbot down with his dust, and
glad he escaped so, returned to Reading." --Fuller.
{Dust brand} (Bot.), a fungous plant ({Ustilago Carbo}); --
called also {smut}.
{Gold dust}, fine particles of gold, such as are obtained in
placer mining; -- often used as money, being transferred
by weight.
{In dust and ashes}. See under {Ashes}.
{To bite the dust}. See under {Bite}, v. t.
{To raise dust}, or
{To kick up dust}, to make a commotion. [Colloq.]
{To throw dust in one's eyes}, to mislead; to deceive.
[Colloq.]
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from
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
Dust
Storms of sand and dust sometimes overtake Eastern travellers.
They are very dreadful, many perishing under them. Jehovah
threatens to bring on the land of Israel, as a punishment for
forsaking him, a rain of "powder and dust" (Deut. 28:24).
To cast dust on the head was a sign of mourning (Josh. 7:6);
and to sit in dust, of extreme affliction (Isa. 47:1). "Dust" is
used to denote the grave (Job 7:21). "To shake off the dust from
one's feet" against another is to renounce all future
intercourse with him (Matt. 10:14; Acts 13:51). To "lick the
dust" is a sign of abject submission (Ps. 72:9); and to throw
dust at one is a sign of abhorrence (2 Sam. 16:13; comp. Acts
22:23).
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
259 Moby Thesaurus words for "dust":
acres, air, air pollution, alluvion, alluvium, altercation,
arable land, ashes, attritus, bamboozle, barrel, beat, beeline,
begrime, bemire, bemud, besmoke, besprinkle, bickering, biscuit,
bleach, body, bone, bones, bowdlerize, bran, bread, bubble,
cadaver, carcass, carrion, chaff, chicane, chip, clamjamfry, clay,
clean, clean out, clean up, cleanse, clear out, clobber, clod,
cobweb, collateral, cork, corpse, corpus delicti, cosmic dust,
cracker, crowbait, crumb, crumble, crust, culm, dead body,
dead man, dead person, deadwood, debris, decedent, delouse,
depurate, deterge, dirt, dirty, dirty up, dishwater, dispute, dot,
down, draff, dredge, dregs, drub, dry bones, dry land, dry-clean,
dust ball, dust off, dustup, earth, efflorescence, embalmed corpse,
ether, expurgate, fairy, falling-out, fallout, farina, feather,
filings, flimflam, flit, flour, flue, fluff, fly, foam,
food for worms, fool, fracas, freehold, freshen, froth, fuzz,
garbage, gash, glebe, gossamer, grassland, grime, grits, groats,
ground, gull, hassle, hasten, hoax, hogwash, hoodwink, hotfoot,
husks, hustle, junk, kittens, lambaste, land, landholdings, larrup,
late lamented, leavings, lees, lick, lint, lithosphere, litter,
lumber, lustrate, marginal land, marl, meal, mire, mold,
mortal remains, mote, muck, muck up, mud, muddy, mummification,
mummy, offal, offscourings, organic remains, orts, overwhelm,
parchment, parings, pepper, potsherds, powder, powdering, purge,
purify, pussies, raff, rags, raspings, real estate, real property,
reform, refuse, region, regolith, relics, reliquiae, remains,
riffraff, row, rubbish, rubble, run, run-in, sawdust, scavenge,
scourings, scrap, scrap iron, scraps, scum, shards, shavings,
shellac, shoddy, skeleton, slack, slag, slime, slop, slops, smoke,
smut, sod, soil, soot, spatter, speck, speckle, speed, splatter,
sponge, spot, sprinkle, sprinkling, spruce, spume, steam-clean,
stick, stiff, straw, stubble, stud, subaerial deposit, subsoil,
sweep out, sweepings, sweeten, swill, tares, tenement of clay,
terra, terra firma, terrain, territory, the country, the dead,
the deceased, the defunct, the departed, the loved one,
thistledown, thrash, tidy, topsoil, trash, trick, truck, wastage,
waste, waste matter, wastepaper, weeds, whiten, wipe, wipe off,
wipe out, wipe up, woodland
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