house dustn.
/ˈhaʊs ˌdʌst/, U.S. /ˈhaʊs ˌdəst/ 1. Dust found in the home, esp. considered as a source of infectious agents or allergens.
ΚΠ
1830 Edinb. Lit. Jrnl. 13 Feb. 105/1 These webs, indeed, seem best adapted for collecting house dust.
1867 Boston Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 17 Jan. 494 First of all, dust is dangerous, more particularly house dust.
1907 Illionois Med. Jrnl. 12 514 House dust is finally to be considered in a very brief way, but not because it is the least dangerous. The house is the place where infection is most developed.
1966 Pop. Sci. Aug. 74/1 Sometimes he finds that a person allergic to house dust, for example, sleeps next to the hot-air vent of a dirty heating system.
1990 C. Rose Dirty Man of Europe (1991) ix. 222 House dust..contained plutonium, together with radioactive americum, caesium and ruthenium.
1992 Equinox Aug. 14/2 There was no control population to evaluate the mortality rate among asthmatic people exposed to house dust containing fungal propagules but not mites.
2. Household refuse, esp. that consisting of ashes, dust, and other fine particles. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > refuse or rubbish > [noun] > domestic
scullery1659
house dust1834
trash1906
1834 Field Naturalist 2 125 The sea-shores.., where the inhabitants deposit their rubbish, or house-dust.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 216/1 The yards devoted to the trade in house-dust.
1884 C. Dukes Preserv. Health ii. 90 The disposal of house dust, and kitchen refuse, is always a source of difficulty and anxiety in every house, especially in towns.
1914 Bricklayer, Mason & Plasterer May 103/1 The fuel is usually sifted house dust, that is the contents of house dust-bins freed from their old tins, cabbage leaves and other refuse till only the cinders are left.
1996 R. Turvey in H. Sasson & D. Diamond LSE on Social Sci. xiii. 221 Much of the so-called house dust included some refuse of shops, offices, restaurants, and so on.
Compounds
house-dust mite n. any of several mites of the genera Dermatophagoides and Euroglyphus (family Pyroglyphidae), which are common in household dust and bedding and whose excreta and body remains can cause asthma and other allergic reactions; also called bed mite.
ΚΠ
1967 Ann. Allergy 25 599 The author concludes that for Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus a common name is proposed: ‘House-Dust Mite’.
1994 Which? Feb. 35/2 House-dust mites are found in large numbers in poorly-ventilated bedding.
2003 A. Crockett Asthma i. 8 House dust mites and their waste make up one-third of all dust from carpets.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1830