a person or thing that removes dust: a housekeeper who’s a meticulous duster; the rags I use as dusters for the furniture.
a person or thing that applies dust, powder, etc.: a team of dusters who use magnetic powder to detect fingerprints; a new pink duster for her lavender-scented body powder.
a container with a perforated lid for sprinkling dust, powder, etc.: a duster for shaking insecticide onto your rose bushes; a decorative cake topping made with a stencil and a sugar duster.
crop duster: Until this wind dies down, our dusters will be grounded.
a lightweight housecoat: She was the perfect grandmother, always in a flowered duster and always with a jar full of cookies.
a long, light overgarment, worn to protect one’s clothing from dust: On display is a man’s brown canvas duster, circa 1910, commonly worn in the early days of open automobiles.
a calf-length cardigan or coat for women that is loose-fitting and often without buttons or other fasteners: She rocks it in a breezy chambray duster and buttercup-yellow heels.
Meteorology. dust storm: The suddenness with which these dusters appear can be very unnerving.
Also called dust-off pitch .Baseball. a pitched ball that travels so far inside as it crosses the plate that the batter is forced to drop to the ground so as not to be hit by the ball: That’s the second duster Hernandez has thrown in this series, so the umpire’s warning comes as no surprise.
dry hole (def. 1): They were so sure they’d strike oil, but I knew it was going to be a duster.
(initial capital letter)Military. a self-propelled U.S. antiaircraft gun developed in the 1950s, armed with a twin 40 mm cannon: The last time an Air Defense Artillery class fired the Duster in training was in 1988.