dust

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dʌst/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dust, inherited from Old English dūst,^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *dunstaz, the source also of German Dunst “mist, vapour”, Old High German tunst “storm, breath” and Dutch duist “chaff, meal dust”,^[2][3][4] probably from Proto-Indo-European *dheu- (“dust, smoke, vapour”).^[2] Its original sense seems to have been “that which rises in a cloud”.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Fine dry particles of earth or other matter: about 825 in the OED, about 725 in the poem Christ according to Barnhart.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

Already in Old English it was the substance to which the human body decays, and figuratively mortal life.^[2][6] Biblical phrases such as shake the dust off one's feet became part of the language.^[5] A cloud of dust in the air is from the 1570s,^[2] and figurative confusion or disturbance from the 1560s, as in kick up a dust (1753).^[2] The verb, to rise as dust, is from before 1200,^[3][2] to rid of dust from the 1560s and to sprinkle with dust from the 1590s.^[2] Duster is from 1576,^[3] the dust jacket from 1927–28,^[2][3] and the Dust Bowl from 1936.^[3] In American slang to dust, to kill, is from 1938.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 825 – fine particles.^[6]
• c. 1200 – verb, to rise as dust.^[3]
• 1560s – to remove dust.^[2]
• 1753 – kick up a dust.^[2]
• 1927 – dust jacket.^[2]
• 1936 – Dust Bowl.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Fine dry powder made of particles of earth, dirt or other matter.
2. A cloud of such particles.
3. (literary) The earth, or the remains of a dead body.

Verb

1. To remove dust from furniture or other things.
2. To sprinkle with a fine powder, such as sugar or flour.

Word family

• dustless
• dustlike
• duster
• redust
• undusted
• dust bunny
• dust off

Related words

• crop-dust
• dusty
• sawdust
• stardust

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press