Etymology: Old English dúst (later probably dust) = Old Frisian and East Frisian dûst, Old Low German, Middle Low German, Low German dust, Middle Dutch donst, dunst, dûst fine flour, Kilian duyst, donst, dûst, modern Dutch duist meal-dust, bran, Old Norse dust dust, Danish dyst mill-dust. All these go back to an earlier dunst, whence also German dunst vapour; the primary notion being apparently that which rises or is blown in a cloud, like vapour, smoke, or dust. See Kluge, and Franck.

Etymology: compare dust v.²: also doust n.

Etymology: < dust n.¹: compare Old Norse dusta to dust. The connection of senses 7, 11 is obscure, and it is not certain that they belong here. Compare dust v.²

Etymology: A Middle English word, of which the earlier history does not appear.The past tense deste beside duste , and the rhyme in Ferumbras, show that the u was ü , pointing to an Old English *dystan ( < *dustjan ), of which, however, no examples have been found. The Norse words cited by Mätzner, Icelandic dust a ‘tilt’, Swedish dust a ‘brush’ with any one, Danish dyst ‘tilting, fighting, shock’, appear to be later words, and are apparently not related. Of an Old English dystan , early Middle English düsten , the normal modern English representation would be dist ; but dust (compare blush v.) would also be possible; in which case senses 7 and 11, under dust v.¹, may possibly belong here, though the wide chronological gap is against this.