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dust

Pronunciation: /dʌst/

The English word “dust” has 20 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. Fine, dry particles of matter found in the air and covering the surface of objects, typically consisting of soil lifted up by the wind, pollen, hair, fiber debris, dead skin cells, etc.
  2. Any substance reduced to fine particles; powder.
  3. Submicron particles in outer space, largely silicates and carbon compounds, that contribute greatly to extinction at visible wavelengths.
  4. Disintegration of a solid, like silica.
  5. Flour.
  6. A single fine, dry particle of earth or other material; grain of dust.
  7. The act of cleaning by dusting.
  8. The act of sprinkling dust, or a sprinkle of dust itself.
  9. Earth, ground, soil, sediment.
  10. The earth as the resting place of the dead.
  11. The earthly remains of bodies once alive; the remains of the human body.
  12. The substance of the human body or mortal frame.
  13. Something worthless.
  14. A low or mean condition.
  15. Rubbish, garbage, refuse.
  16. cash; money (in reference to gold dust).
  17. A cloud of dust.
  18. A tumult, disturbance, commotion, uproar.
  19. A fight or row.
  20. A totally disconnected set of points with a fractal structure.

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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.