Dust vs Dirt - What's the difference?
dust | dirt |
(uncountable) 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, etc.
(countable) The act of cleaning by dusting.
* 2010 , Joan Busfield, Michael Paddon, Thinking About Children: Sociology and Fertility in Post-War England (page 150)
(obsolete) A single particle of earth or other material.
* Shakespeare
The earth, as the resting place of the dead.
* Bible, Job vii. 21
The earthy remains of bodies once alive; the remains of the human body.
* Tennyson
(figurative) Something worthless.
* Shakespeare
(figurative) A low or mean condition.
* Bible, 1 Sam. ii. 8
(slang, dated) cash; money (in reference to gold dust).
(mathematics) A totally disconnected set of points with a fractal structure.
To remove dust from.
* , chapter=12
, title= To remove dust; to clean by removing dust.
Of a bird, to cover itself in sand or dry, dusty earth.
To spray or cover something with fine powder or liquid.
To leave; to rush off.
* 1939 , (Raymond Chandler), (The Big Sleep) , Penguin 2011, p. 75:
To reduce to a fine powder; to levigate.
soil or earth
A stain or spot (on clothes etc); any foreign substance that worsens appearance
Previously unknown facts, or the invented "facts", about a person; gossip
Meanness; sordidness.
* Melmoth
In placer mining, earth, gravel, etc., before washing.
As nouns the difference between dirt and dust
is that dirt is soil or earth while dust is 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, etc.As verbs the difference between dirt and dust
is that dirt is to make foul or filthy; soil; befoul; dirty while dust is to remove dust from.As an acronym DIRT
is Deposit Interest Retention Taxdust
English
Noun
- once they start school, I mean you can do a room out one day, the next day it only needs a dust , doesn't it?
- to touch a dust of England's ground
- I shall sleep in the dust .
- And you may carve a shrine about my dust .
- And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust .
- [God] raiseth up the poor out of the dust .
Derived terms
* angel dust * bite the dust * catch dust * dust ball * dustbin, dust bin * dust devil * dustbowl, dust bowl * dust bunny * dust filter * dustman * dust mask * dustpan * duststorm * dust trap * dust-up * dusty * fairy dust * goofer dust * pixie dust * smart dust, smartdust * stardust * turn to dustVerb
(en verb)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=There were many wooden chairs for the bulk of his visitors, and two wicker armchairs with red cloth cushions for superior people. From the packing-cases had emerged some Indian clubs, […], and all these articles […] made a scattered and untidy decoration that Mrs. Clough assiduously dusted and greatly cherished.}}
- He added in a casual tone: ‘The girl can dust . I'd like to talk to you a little, soldier.’
- (Sprat)
Derived terms
* dust off * dusterSee also
* vacuum cleanerdirt
English
Alternative forms
* (obsolete)Noun
(en-noun)- The reporter uncovered the dirt on the businessman by going undercover.
- honours thrown away upon dirt and infamy