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Clay vs Dust - What's the difference?

clay | dust | Related terms |

In transitive terms the difference between clay and dust

is that clay is to add clay to, to spread clay onto while dust is to spray or cover something with fine powder or liquid.

As a proper noun Clay

is {{surname|from=occupations}.

clay

English

Noun

(en-noun)
  • A mineral substance made up of small crystals of silica and alumina, that is ductile when moist; the material of pre-fired ceramics.
  • *
  • *:Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with (by way of local colour) on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust.
  • An earth material with ductile qualities.
  • (lb) A tennis court surface.
  • :
  • (lb) The material of the human body.
  • *1611 , Old Testament , King James Version, (w) 10:8-9:
  • Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about...thou hast made me as the clay .
  • *1611 , Old Testament , King James Version, (w) 64:8:
  • *:But now, O Lord, thou art our Father; we are the clay , and thou art our potter; and we are the work of thy hand.
  • (lb) A particle less than 3.9 microns in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.
  • A clay pigeon.
  • Antonyms

    * (material of the human body) soul, spirit

    Hyponyms

    * kaolin, kaoline * ball clay * fire clay * potter's clay

    Derived terms

    * ball clay * claying * clayen * clayey * claymation * clay pigeon * fire clay * modelling clay * potter's clay

    See also

    * alluvium

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To add clay to, to spread clay onto.
  • (of sugar) To purify using clay.
  • * 1776 , , Book IV, Chapter 7: Of Colonies, Part 2: Causes of Prosperity of New Colonies,
  • They amounted, therefore, to a prohibition, at first of claying' or refining sugar for any foreign market, and at present of ' claying or refining it for the market, which takes off, perhaps, more than nine-tenths of the whole produce.
  • * 1809', Jonathan Williams, '' On the Process of '''Claying Sugar'', in ''Transactions of the American Philosophical Society , Volume 6.
  • * 1985 , Stuart B. Schwartz, Sugar Plantations in the Formation of Brazilian Society: Bahia, 1550-1835 , page 200,
  • The Portuguese had mastered the technique of claying sugar, and other European nations tried to learn the secrets from them.

    References

    * Krueger, Dennis (December 1982). "Why On Earth Do They Call It Throwing?" Studio Potter Vol. 11, Number 1.[http://www.studiopotter.org/articles/?art=art0001] (etymology) * * Clay , New Webster Dictionary of English Language, 1980 edition.

    Anagrams

    *

    dust

    English

    Noun

  • (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)
  • 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?
  • (obsolete) A single particle of earth or other material.
  • * Shakespeare
  • to touch a dust of England's ground
  • The earth, as the resting place of the dead.
  • * Bible, Job vii. 21
  • I shall sleep in the dust .
  • The earthy remains of bodies once alive; the remains of the human body.
  • * Tennyson
  • And you may carve a shrine about my dust .
  • (figurative) Something worthless.
  • * Shakespeare
  • And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust .
  • (figurative) A low or mean condition.
  • * Bible, 1 Sam. ii. 8
  • [God] raiseth up the poor out of the dust .
  • (slang, dated) cash; money (in reference to gold dust).
  • (mathematics) A totally disconnected set of points with a fractal structure.
  • 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 dust

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To remove dust from.
  • * , chapter=12
  • , title= 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.}}
  • 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:
  • He added in a casual tone: ‘The girl can dust . I'd like to talk to you a little, soldier.’
  • To reduce to a fine powder; to levigate.
  • (Sprat)

    Derived terms

    * dust off * duster

    See also

    * vacuum cleaner