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Dust vs Fume - What's the difference?

dust | fume |

As verbs the difference between dust and fume

is that dust is to remove dust from while fume is to.

As a noun dust

is (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.

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

    Anagrams

    * English contranyms 1000 English basic words ----

    fume

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A gas or vapour/vapor that smells strongly or is dangerous to inhale. Fumes are solid particles formed by condensation from the gaseous state, e.g. metal oxides from volatilized metals. They can flocculate and coalesce. Their particle size is between 0.1 and 1 micron. (A micron is one millionth of a metre)
    • Don't stand around in there breathing the fumes while the adhesive cures.
  • * T. Warton
    • the fumes of new shorn hay
  • A material that has been vaporized from the solid state to the gas state and re-coalesced to the solid state.
  • Rage or excitement which deprives the mind of self-control.
    • the fumes of passion
    (South)
  • Anything unsubstantial or airy; idle conceit; vain imagination.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • a show of fumes and fancies
  • The incense of praise; inordinate flattery.
  • * Burton
    • to smother him with fumes and eulogies

    Verb

    (fum)
  • To emit fumes.
  • * Milton
    • where the golden altar fumed
  • * Roscommon
    • Silenus lay, / Whose constant cups lay fuming to his brain.
  • To expose something (especially wood) to ammonia fumes in order to produce dark tints.
  • To feel or express great anger.
    • He's still fuming about the argument they had yesterday.
  • * Dryden
    • He frets, he fumes , he stares, he stamps the ground.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
    • Her mother did fret, and her father did fume .
  • To be as in a mist; to be dulled and stupefied.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Keep his brain fuming .
  • To pass off in fumes or vapours.
  • * Cheyne
    • Their parts are kept from fuming away by their fixity.

    Usage notes

    * In the sense of strong-smelling or dangerous vapor, the noun is typically plural, as in the example. ----