dusty, a.
(ˈdʌstɪ)
[f. dust n.1 + -y.]
1. a. Full of, abounding with, or strewn with dust.
| a 1225 Juliana 79 And weorpð þat dusti chef to hellene heate. 1499 Promp. Parv. 135/2 (Pynson) Dusty, pulverulentus. a 1586 Sidney Fear of Death, Our life is but a step in dustie way. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. v. iv. (Arb.) 72 Farewell musty, dusty, rusty, fusty London. 1605 Shakes. Macb. v. v. 23. 1725 Pope Odyss. xiii. 99 Urged by fierce drivers through the dusty space. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 532 In the dusty recesses of a few old libraries. 1891 Labour Commission Gloss. s.v. Money, Dusty money, a special allowance per quarter made when the corn to be unloaded at docks is dusty. |
b. Of wine: containing sediment.
| 1886 J. Noble Handbk. Cape Gd. Hope 275 Notwithstanding the large amount of alcohol which they [sc. Cape wines] contain, they are not clear and always somewhat ‘dusty’. |
2. Consisting of, or of the nature of, dust; powdery.
| 1552 Huloet, Dustye, or of dust, puluerius. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxvi. iii, A field of dusty sand. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii ii. 196 When..mightie States characterlesse are grated To dustie nothing. 1748 F. Smith Voy. Disc. I. 157 We had a Fall of small dusty Snow. 1890 Nature 20 Mar. 473 A dusty material of a scaly form. |
3. Of colour, etc.: Having the appearance of being strewn with dust. Also
advb. qualifying
adjs. of colour.
| 1676 Lond. Gaz. No. 1148/4 A dusty brown Gelding. 1679 Ibid. No. 1419/4 A dusty black Gelding. 1701 Ibid. No. 3703/4 A black dusty-colour Mare. 1843 Carlyle Let. to Emerson, A great shock of rough, dusty-dark hair. |
4. In various
fig. senses:
† a. Soiled or stained as with dust, smirched (
obs.).
b. Mean, worthless, vile (
cf. dust n.1 3 d); now only in slang
phr. not (or none) so dusty = ‘not so bad’.
c. Obscured as with a cloud of dust.
d. ‘Dry as dust’, uninteresting. Also, unsatisfying, inconclusive, poor;
esp. in
phr. dusty answer.
| c 1610 Women Saints 168 She knew her dayes to haue beene..dustie and deceitfull. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Fam. Ep. Wks. (1711) 144 Yet should they not envy silly men a dusty honour. 1847 L. Hunt Men, Women, & B. I. ix. 172 What, to his dusty apprehension, appeared the most confused..story in the world. 1856 F. E. Smedley Harry Coverdale xlii. 312 None so dusty that—eh? for a commoner like me? 1860 Hawthorne Marble Faun (1879) I. v. 56 Hard and dusty facts. 1862 G. Meredith Modern Love 82 Ah, what a dusty answer gets the soul When hot for certainties in this our life! 1864 Hotten Slang Dict. 128 ‘What do you think of this?’ ‘Well, it's not so dusty,’ i.e., not so bad; sometimes varied to ‘none so dusty’. 1893 R. Kipling Many Invent. 148 B Company has come up very well, I said..They're none so dusty now, are they? 1926 Galsworthy Escape i. i, Out of Germany! Cripes! That was none so dusty! 1927 R. Lehmann (title) Dusty answer. 1929 J. B. Priestley Good Compan. i. i. 16 ‘You're a swell tonight all right!’..‘Not so dusty, Mar,’ said Leonard. 1936 ‘I. Hay’ Housemaster xix. 235 The applicants met with what is technically known as a dusty answer. |
5. Comb., as
dusty-footed adj.;
dusty boy Naval slang, a naval stores rating;
dusty miller, (
a) a popular name of the auricula (
Primula Auricula), from the fine powder on the leaves and flowers; also of
Senecio Cineraria and
Cerastium tomentosum; (
b) a kind of artificial fly used in angling; (
c) any of several noctuid moths with speckled markings on their wings (
U.S.);
† dusty-poll, a nickname for a miller.
| [1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. 120/2 Dusty, a ship's steward's assistant.] 1916 ‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin vii. 114 Puts on a lot o' swank fur a bloomin' *dusty boy. |
| 1835 Thirlwall Greece I. 417 Conipodes, the *dusty-footed. |
| 1825 Jamieson, *Dustie-miller, the plant Auricula. 1867 F. Francis Angling x. (1880) 355 The Dusty Miller..has become a capital general fly. 1888 Chambers' Encycl. I. 581 The auricula has..the popular name in Scotland of ‘Dusty Miller’. 1909 G. S. Porter Girl of Limberlost xii. 243 Small insects of night gathered, and at last a little dusty miller, but nothing came of any size. |
| c 1515 Cocke Lorell's B. 3 A myller *dusty-poll than dyde come. a 1600 J. T. Collier of Croydon iv. i. in Hazl. Dodsley VIII. 446 Now, miller, miller dustipoll I'll clapper-claw your jobbernole. |