dust

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
dust/dʌst/

▶noun

• 1 fine, dry powder consisting of tiny particles of earth or waste matter.

  ■ any material in the form of tiny particles: coal dust.

  ■ literary a dead person's remains.

• 2 an act of dusting.

▶verb

• 1 remove dust from the surface of.

  ■ (dust something down/off) bring something out for use again after a long period of neglect.

• 2 cover lightly with a powdered substance.

• 3 (usu. dust someone up) US informal beat up or kill.

– phrases
be done and dusted informal (of a project) be completely finished or ready.
dust and ashes something that causes great disappointment.
eat someone's dust N. Amer. informal fall far behind someone in a competitive situation.
leave someone/thing in the dust surpass someone or something easily.
not see someone for dust find that a person has made a hasty departure.
kick up a dust (or US kick up dust) informal create a disturbance.

– derivatives
dustless adjective.

– origin OE dūst, of Gmc origin.