Word: dust Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English dust, doust, from Old English dūst (“dust, dried earth reduced to powder; other dry material reduced to powder”), from the fusion of Proto-Germanic *dustą (“dust”) and *dunstą (“mist, dust, evaporation”), both from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to smoke, raise dust”). Cognate with Scots dust, dist (“dust”), Dutch duist (“pollen, dust”) and dons (“down, fuzz”), German Dust (“dust”) and Dunst (“haze”), Swedish dust (“dust”), Icelandic dust (“dust”), Latin fūmus (“smoke, steam”). Also related to Swedish dun (“down, fluff”), Icelandic dúnn (“down, fluff”). See down. Pronunciation: /dʌst/, /dʊst/ 1. Fine particles. Labels: uncountable Example: There is so much dust released during the process of laying ballast that the trackside operator wears a full face mask with respirator. 2. Fine particles. Labels: uncountable 3. Fine particles. Labels: uncountable Example: Astronomers have previously considered that dust produced by the star was obscuring it, causing the steep decline in brightness. 4. Fine particles. Labels: uncountable 5. Fine particles. Labels: Australia, dated, slang, uncountable 6. Fine particles. Labels: countable, obsolete Example: to touch a dust of England’s ground 7. The act of cleaning by dusting. Labels: countable Example: […]once they start school, I mean you can do a room out one day, the next day it only needs a dust, doesn’t it? 8. The act of sprinkling dust, or a sprinkle of dust itself. Labels: countable 9. Earth, ground, soil, sediment. Labels: countable, poetic, uncountable Example: But I should turn mine ears and hear The moanings of the homeless sea, ⁠The sound of streams that swift or slow ⁠Draw down Æonian hills, and sow The dust of continents to be; […] 10. The earth as the resting place of the dead. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: For now shall I sleep in the dust. 11. The earthly remains of bodies once alive; the remains of the human body. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: For I will leave my relics in your land, / And you may carve a shrine about my dust, / And burn a fragrant lamp before my bones, / When I am gather’d to the glorious saints. 12. The substance of the human body or mortal frame. Labels: countable, figuratively, uncountable 13. Something worthless. Labels: countable, figuratively, uncountable Example: And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust. 14. A low or mean condition. Labels: countable, figuratively, uncountable Example: [God] raiseth up the poor out of the dust. 15. Rubbish, garbage, refuse. Labels: UK, colloquial, countable, uncountable 16. cash; money (in reference to gold dust). Labels: countable, dated, slang, uncountable Example: ‘And what do you ask for it?’ ‘Fifteen thousand dollars.’ ‘I’ll take it.’ ‘Then down with the dust.’ 17. A cloud of dust. Labels: countable 18. A tumult, disturbance, commotion, uproar. Labels: countable, figuratively Example: to raise, or kick up, a dust 19. A fight or row. Labels: colloquial, countable 20. A totally disconnected set of points with a fractal structure. Labels: countable 21. Tiny amounts of cryptocurrency left over after a transaction due to rounding error. Labels: countable, uncountable