dust: [OE] The notion ultimately underlying dust seems to be that of ‘smoke’ or ‘vapour’. It goes back to a prehistoric Indo-European base *dheu-, which also produced Latin fūmus and Sanskrit dhūma- ‘smoke’. A Germanic descendant of this, *dunstu-, picks up the idea of a cloud of fine particles being blown about like smoke, and is the basis of Norwegian dust ‘dust’ and duft ‘finely ground grain’, German duft ‘fragrance’ (from an earlier Middle High German tuft ‘vapour, dew’), and English dust.
dust (n.)
Old English dust, from Proto-Germanic *dunstaz (cognates: Old High German tunst "storm, breath," German Dunst "mist, vapor," Danish dyst "milldust," Dutch duist), from PIE *dheu- (1) "dust, smoke, vapor" (cognates: Sanskrit dhu- "shake," Latin fumus "smoke"). Meaning "that to which living matter decays" was in Old English, hence, figuratively, "mortal life."
dust (v.)
c. 1200, "to rise as dust;" later "to sprinkle with dust" (1590s) and "to rid of dust" (1560s); from dust (n.). Related: Dusted; dusting. Sense of "to kill" is U.S. slang first recorded 1938 (compare bite the dust under bite (v.)).
雙語例句
1. Lights reflected off dust-covered walls creating a ghostly luminescence.
燈光照在滿是灰塵的牆上，反射回蒼白的冷光。
來自柯林斯例句
2. The powdery dust rose in a cloud around him.
一團粉塵在他周圍揚起。
來自柯林斯例句
3. In the last 30 years many cherished values have bitten the dust.
在過去的30年中，許多珍貴的價值觀已經消失殆盡。
來自柯林斯例句
4. Wind caught the sudden puff of dust and blew it inland.
風猛地刮起一陣灰塵，將它吹往內陸。
來自柯林斯例句
5. Many of the machines are gathering dust in basements.