dust – English verb conjugation

Nominal Forms

Infinitive: to dust
Participle: dusted
Gerund: dusting

Cognates

-

Indicative

Subjunctive

Conditional

Imperative

you	dust
we	Let's dust
you	dust

Indicative

Conditional

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

to put to death; to extinguish life.

annihilate, bag, bereave of life, blight, bring down, bury, cack, croak, crush, dash, deactivate, dead, demolish, destroy, dispatch, dispose of, do, do in, eliminate, end, eradicate, exterminate, finish, finish off, flatten, lay waste to, make a way with, mortify, neutralize, obliterate, off, pay off, pick off, polish off, punch someone's ticket, put an end to, put down, put out of one's misery, put six feet under, put to sleep, ravage, rub out, ruin, scotch, scupper, scuttle, send to eternity, send to hell, send to the grave, send to the great beyond, send to the next life, smash, smite, snuff, squash, stiff, take, take care of, take down, take out, terminate, terminate with extreme prejudice, kill, torpedo, waste, wipe out, wreck

sprinkle

sift, powder, scatter, spread, shake

Additional Information

Phrasal Verbs

Etymology

1. O.E. dust, from P.Gmc. *dunstaz, from PIE *dheu- with a sense of "smoke, vapor" (cf. Skt. dhu- "shake," L. fumus "smoke"). The verb means both "to sprinkle with dust" (1592) and "to rid of dust" (1568). Sense of "to kill" is U.S. slang first recorded 1938. Dustbowl in reference to a drought-plagued region of the U.S. Midwest first recorded 1936. Dustup "fight" is from 1897; to dust (someone's) coat was ironical for "to beat (someone) soundly" (1690).
2. From Middle English dust, doust, from Old English dūst (“dust, dried earth reduced to powder; other dry material reduced to powder”), from the fusion of Proto-Germanic *dustą (“dust”) and *dunstą (“mist, dust, evaporation”), both from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to smoke, raise dust”).
3. Cognate with Scots dust, dist (“dust”), Dutch duist (“pollen, dust”) and dons (“down, fuzz”), German Dust (“dust”) and Dunst (“haze”), Swedish dust (“dust”), Icelandic dust (“dust”), Latin fūmus (“smoke, steam”). Also related to Swedish dun (“down, fluff”), Icelandic dúnn (“down, fluff”). See down. See: Scots 'dust'.

Sample Sentences