Category:Dust

Dust, n. Etym: [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. .]

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 too minute portions; fine powder; as, clouds of dust; bone dust. Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Genesis 3:19. Stop! -- for thy tread is on an empire's dust. Byron.

2. A single particle of earth or other matter. [R.] "To touch a dust of England's ground." Shak.

3. The earth, as the resting place of the dead. For now shall sleep in the dust. Job 7:21.

4. The earthy remains of bodies once alive; the remains of the human body. And you may carve a shrine about my dust. Tennyson.

5. Figuratively, a worthless thing. And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust. Shak.

6. Figuratively, a low or mean condition. [God] raiseth up the poor out of the dust. 1 Samuel 2:8.

7. Gold dust; hence: (Slang)

Defn: Coined money; cash. 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, or kick up, dust, to make a commotion. [Colloq.] -- To throw dust in one's eyes, to mislead; to deceive. [Colloq.]

dust Dust, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dusted; p. pr. & vb. n. Dusting.]

1. To free from dust; to brush, wipe, or sweep away dust from; as, to dust a table or a floor.

2. To sprinkle with dust.

3. To reduce to a fine powder; to levigate. Sprat. To dyst one's jacket, to give one a flogging. [Slang.]

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Dust - Storms of sand and dust sometimes overtake Eastern travelers. 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" (Deuteronomy 28:24). To cast dust on the head was a sign of mourning (Joshua 7:6); and to sit in dust, of extreme affliction (Isaiah 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 (Matthew 10:14; Acts 13:51). To "lick the dust" is a sign of abject submission (Psalms 72:9); and to throw dust at one is a sign of abhorrence (2 Samuel 16:13; compare Acts 22:23).