| dusk | 1. Imperfect obscurity; a middle degree between light and darkness; twilight; as, the dusk of the evening. 2. A darkish colour. "Whose duck set off the whiteness of the skin." (Dryden) Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| dusky | 1. Partially dark or obscure; not luminous; dusk; as, a dusky valley. "Through dusky lane and wrangling mart." (Keble) 2. Tending to blackness in colour; partially black; dark-coloured; not bright; as, a dusky brown. "When Jove in dusky clouds involves the sky." (Dryden) "The figure of that first ancestor invested by family tradition with a dim and dusky grandeur." (Hawthorne) 3. Gloomy; sad; melancholy. "This dusky scene of horror, this melancholy prospect." (Bentley) 4. Intellectually clouded. "Though dusky wits dare scorn astrology." (Sir P. Sidney) Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| dust | 1. Fine, dry particles of earth or other matter, so comminuted that they may be raised and wafted by the wind; that which is crumbled too minute portions; fine powder; as, clouds of dust; bone dust. "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." (Gen. Iii. 19) "Stop! for thy tread is on an empire's dust." (Byron) 2. A single particle of earth or other matter. "To touch a dust of England's ground." 3. The earth, as the resting place of the dead. "For now shall sleep in the dust." (Job vii. 21) 4. The earthy remains of bodies once alive; the remains of the human body. "And you may carve a shrine about my dust." (Tennyson) 5. Figuratively, a worthless thing. "And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust." (Shak) 6. Figuratively, a low or mean condition. "[God] raiseth up the poor out of the dust." (1 Sam. Ii. 8) 7. Gold dust; hence: Coined money; cash. Down with the dust, deposit the cash; pay down the money. "My lord, quoth the king, presently deposit your hundred pounds in gold, or else no going hence all the days of your life. . . . The Abbot down with his dust, and glad he escaped so, returned to Reading." . <botany> Dust brand, a fungous plant (Ustilago Carbo); called also smut. Gold dust, fine particles of gold, such as are obtained in placer mining; often used as money, being transferred by weight. In dust and ashes. See Ashes. To bite the dust. See Bite, To raise, or kick up, dust, to make a commotion. To throw dust in one's eyes, to mislead; to deceive. Origin: AS. Dust; cf. LG. Dust, D. Duist meal dust, OD. Doest, donst, and G. Dunst vapor, OHG. Tunist, dunist, a blowing, wind, Icel. Dust dust, Dan. Dyst mill dust; perh. Akin to L. Fumus smoke, E. Fume. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| dust asthma | Asthma aggravated by inhalation of dust, especially seen as occupational disease resulting from cotton dust. (05 Mar 2000) |
| dust ball | A mass sometimes found in the stomach or intestine of an animal fed on mill cleanings. (05 Mar 2000) |
| dust cell | Macrophage found in lung and that can be obtained by lung lavage, responsible for clearance of inhaled particles and lung surfactant. Metabolism slightly different from peritoneal macrophages (more oxidative metabolism), often have multivesicular bodies that may represent residual undigested lung surfactant. (18 Nov 1997) |
| dust corpuscles | Small refractive particles in the circulating blood, probably lipid material associated with fragmented stroma from red blood cells. Synonym: blood dust, blood motes, dust corpuscles. Origin: haemo-+ G. Konis, dust (05 Mar 2000) |
| duster | 1. One who, or that which, dusts; a utensil that frees from dust. Specifically: A blowing machine for separating the flour from the bran. 2. A light over-garment, worn in traveling to protect the clothing from dust. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| dusty | 1. Filled, covered, or sprinkled with dust; clouded with dust; as, a dusty table; also, reducing to dust. "And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death." (Shak) 2. Like dust; of the colour of dust; as a dusty white. <botany> Dusty miller, a plant (Cineraria maritima); so called because of the ashy-white coating of its leaves. Origin: AS. Dystig. See Dust. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |