2. To taint with mildew, as grain. --Bacon.
3. To blacken; to sully or taint; to tarnish.
4. To clear of smut; as, to smut grain for the mill.
2. To give off smut; to crock.
2. (Mining) Bad, soft coal, containing much earthy matter,
found in the immediate locality of faults.
3. (Bot.) An affection of cereal grains producing a swelling
which is at length resolved into a powdery sooty mass. It
is caused by parasitic fungi of the genus {Ustilago}.
{Ustilago segetum}, or {U. Carbo}, is the commonest kind;
that of Indian corn is {Ustilago maydis}.
4. Obscene language; ribaldry; obscenity.
He does not stand upon decency . . . but will talk
smut, though a priest and his mother be in the room.
--Addison.
{Smut mill}, a machine for cleansing grain from smut.
Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
--Gen. iii.
19.
Stop! -- for thy tread is on an empire's dust.
--Byron.
2. A single particle of earth or other matter. [R.] ``To
touch a dust of England's ground.'' --Shak.
3. The earth, as the resting place of the dead.
For now shall sleep in the dust. --Job vii. 21.
4. The earthy remains of bodies once alive; the remains of
the human body.
And you may carve a shrine about my dust.
--Tennyson.
5. Figuratively, a worthless thing.
And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust. --Shak.
6. Figuratively, a low or mean condition.
[God] raiseth up the poor out of the dust. --1 Sam.
ii. 8.
7. Gold dust; hence: (Slang) Coined money; cash.
{Down with the dust}, deposit the cash; pay down the money.
[Slang] ``My lord, quoth the king, presently deposit your
hundred pounds in gold, or else no going hence all the
days of your life. . . . The Abbot down with his dust, and
glad he escaped so, returned to Reading.'' --Fuller.
{Dust brand} (Bot.), a fungous plant ({Ustilago Carbo}); --
called also {smut}.
{Gold dust}, fine particles of gold, such as are obtained in
placer mining; -- often used as money, being transferred
by weight.
{In dust and ashes}. See under {Ashes}.
{To bite the dust}. See under {Bite}, v. t.
{To}
{raise, or kick up, dust}, to make a commotion. [Colloq.]
{To throw dust in one's eyes}, to mislead; to deceive.
[Colloq.]