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dust off. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
dust off, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
dust off in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
dust off you have here. The definition of the word
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dust off, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Pronunciation
Verb
dust off (third-person singular simple present dusts off, present participle dusting off, simple past and past participle dusted off)
- (transitive) To remove dust from.
- (transitive, figurative) To use something after a long time without it.
2019, Malcolm Gladwell, Talking to Strangers:"If you're accused of profiling or pretextual stops, you can bring your daily logbook to court and document that pulling over motorists for 'stickler' reasons is part of your customary pattern," Remsberg writes, "not a glaring exception conveniently dusted off in the defendant's case."
2020, Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life, page 203:For the Pleurotus mycelium to digest the used cigarette butts it might have to dust off an unused metabolic move.
I think it's time to dust off my old golf clubs, now that I'm retired.
- (transitive, slang) To jilt or desert (a person).
- Red Sox by the Numbers
- A “dice girl in a roadside tavern,” she said she shot McNaughton because “he tried to dust me off.”
Derived terms
Translations
to remove dust from something
to use something after a long time without it