dust

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“
My fugitives shall dwell with thee: O Moab, be thou a covert to them from the face of the destroyer: for the dust is at an end, the wretch is consumed: he hath failed, that trod the earth under foot 16:5.

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Definitions (60)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (18)

  1. noun Fine, dry particles of matter.
  2. noun A cloud of fine, dry particles.
  3. noun Particles of matter regarded as the result of disintegration: fabric that had fallen to dust over the centuries.
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Examples (50)

  • He couldn't come to my place because the dust was at biohazard levels. —  Metro Weekly (Newspaper Magazine of Gay and Lesbian DC)
  • If people imagine that to make a dust is the object aimed at by the rolling of a carriage, they can take a broom, and very soon raise as much dust as fifty coaches; but they will be committing a nuisance rather than conferring a benefit. —  adrianwarnock.com
  • But behind the bulls and the barrels, the crowd and the dust are the people: individuals driven by a love of the sport and the chance for an 8-second prize.
  • The next model in GM's vehicle line-up to bite the dust will be the Cadillac XLR according to a report from the Bowling Green Daily News. —  Carscoop
  • To be trampled under horses' hoofs into the dust was the final fate of the queen, though for many years yet she was to retain her power and to keep up her strife with the foes who surrounded her. —  Historical Tales, Vol. 6 (of 15) The Romance of Reality. French.
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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

dirt ·  sand ·  smoke ·  ash ·  cloud ·  rain ·  stone ·  powder ·  blood ·  soil ·  metal ·  darkness

Used in the same contextWord Family

dust:   dusts ·  dusting ·  dusted
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English dūst.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Middle English dust, doust, from Anglo-Saxon dust (orig. dūst) = OFries. dust = Middle Low German Low German dust (later G. dust), dust, = Dutch duist. meal-dust, = Icelandic dust, dust, = Norwegian dust, dust, fine particles, = Danish dyst, fine flour or meal; allied prob. to Old High German tunist, dunist, dunst, breath, storm, Middle High German G. dunst, vapor, fine dust, = Swedish and Danish dunst, steam, vapor; and to Gothic (Moesogothic) dauns, odor; all prob. ult. from a root repr, by Sanskrit √ dhvans or √ dhvas, fall to dust, perish, vanish, in past participle dhvas-ta (= English dus-t), bestrewn, covered over, especially with dust.
  2. from Middle English dusten, intransitive, rise as dust, = Icelandic dusta = Norwegian dusta, transitive, dust, sprinkle with dust, = Danish dyste, sprinkle; from the noun.
  3. from Middle English dusten, desten, throw, hurl, intransitive rush, comp. adusten, throw (a different word from dusshen, throw down, dash: see dush), apparently of Scandinavian origin: from Icelandic dusta, beat; cf. dustera, tilt, fight (Haldorsen, Cleasby), dust, a blow (Haldorsen), = Swedish dust =Danish dyst, a tilt, bout, fight, = Middle Low German dust (zdust, sust), a tilt, a dance. Prob. allied to douse, beat (see douse). Hitherto confused by a natural figure with dust, from which, in def. I., 2, and II., it cannot now be entirely separated. It is possible that the two words are ult. connected. Cf. Greek κονίειν, transitive cover with dust, intransitive run (as horses or men), or march (as an army), making a dust in the act, i. e., ‘dust.’
 

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/dəst/
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