Other forms: dusters
A duster is a cloth or brush for removing fine powder. A yellow duster, feather duster, run a duster over it.
A dry cloth mostly moves dust around, which is why microfibre and slightly damp cloths work better — they hold the particles instead of scattering them. In American English a duster is also a light coat. Note dust, and the -er ending naming a tool.
1noundusterA cloth or brush for removing fine powder.
“She ran a duster along the shelves and over the top of the piano.”
duster is a cleaning tool.
Proto-Indo-European
*dʰewh₂- — to smoke, raise dust
Proto-Germanic
*dustą — dust
Old English
dūst — dust, dried earth reduced to powder; other dry material reduced to powder
Middle English
dust
English
dust
English, today
duster
Built from
From dust + -er. dust comes 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”). 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.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA