dust

/dəst/

/dəst/

Other forms: dusted; dusting; dusts

Dust is the fine, powdery substance that settles on surfaces over time or is blown around outdoors. A junk shop might be full of beautiful old furniture and books, all covered with dust.

There's the dust you clean with a feather duster, and then there's the verb "to dust." You can dust your bookshelves, cleaning the dust from them, but you can also dust the surface of a cake with powdered sugar, covering it lightly. Informally, when something "gathers dust," it goes unused, and when "the dust settles," a situation calms down.

Definitions of dust

1. noun

   fine powdery material such as dry earth or pollen that can be blown about in the air
   “the furniture was covered with dust”

   types:

   chalk dust

   dust resulting from writing with a piece of chalk

   fallout, radioactive dust

   the radioactive particles that settle to the ground after a nuclear explosion

   type of:

   particulate, particulate matter

   a small discrete mass of solid or liquid matter that remains individually dispersed in gas or liquid emissions (usually considered to be an atmospheric pollutant)
2. noun

   free microscopic particles of solid material
   “astronomers say that the empty space between planets actually contains measurable amounts of dust”

   types:

   interplanetary dust

   microscopic particles in the interplanetary medium

   type of:

   material, stuff

   the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object
3. noun

   the remains of something that has been destroyed or broken up
   synonyms: debris, detritus, junk, rubble

   types:

   slack

   dust consisting of a mixture of small coal fragments and coal dust and dirt that sifts out when coal is passed over a sieve

   type of:

   garbage, refuse, rubbish, scrap, trash

   worthless material that is to be disposed of
4. verb

   cover with a light dusting of a substance
   “dust the bread with flour”

   type of:

   cover

   provide with a covering or cause to be covered
5. verb

   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”

   type of:

   blur, smear, smudge, smutch

   make a smudge on; soil by smudging
6. verb

   distribute loosely
   synonyms: disperse, dot, scatter, sprinkle

   types:

   spray

   scatter in a mass or jet of droplets

   spray

   be discharged in sprays of liquid

   plash, spatter, splash, splatter, splosh, swash

   dash a liquid upon or against

   splash, splosh, sprinkle

   cause (a liquid) to spatter about, especially with force

   bespangle

   dot or sprinkle with sparkling or glittering objects

   aerosolise, aerosolize

   disperse as an aerosol

   shower

   spray or sprinkle with

   atomise, atomize

   spray very finely

   mist

   spray finely or cover with mist

   syringe

   spray or irrigate (a body part) with a syringe

   puddle

   make a puddle by splashing water

   slosh, slosh around, slush, slush around

   spill or splash copiously or clumsily

   salt

   sprinkle as if with salt

   drizzle, moisten

   moisten with fine drops

   type of:

   discharge

   pour forth or release
7. verb

   remove the dust from
   “dust the cabinets”

   type of:

   clean, make clean

   make clean by removing dirt, filth, or unwanted substances from