dusty

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   covered with a layer of dust

   a dusty pile of books

2. 2
   adj

   Covered with dust.

   a dusty carpet

3. 3
   adj

   Grey or greyish.

   a dusty peach color

4. 4
   adj

   Old; outdated; stuffily traditional.

   The very smart practitioners of my acquaintance do not rest their right hand on old dusty knowledge, but bend and move along a ground of being in which they are perpetually on the lookout for what is trusty and true, new and old.

5. 5
   adj

   Ugly, unwell, inadequate, bad.

   ...the toilet-glass on the table...had probably reflected few such faces as that of the lady calling herself Mrs. Lloyd, who looked attentively into it when she found herself alone and decided that she was not so very dusty, considering

6. 6
   noun

   A medium-brown color.

   The orange shades ranged from brilliant to soft; pinks from delicate little-girl hues to strong dusties; yellows were soft buttermilks to ochre; reds ran from scarlets to bloods;

7. 7
   noun

   An old bottle of spirits that has been kept for a long time.

   A lighter, less expensive version—The White Label—was taken off the market in 2016. But dusties can still be found.

8. 8
   noun

   A miller (from the image of millers being covered in flour dust).

   I do not like to see too much strife between dusties on the short and long system question, as it is liable to cause hard feelings.

Etymology

From Middle English dusty, dusti, from Old English dūstiġ, dystiġ, dȳstiġ (“dusty”), equivalent to dust + -y. Cognate with Dutch donzig (“cottony, downy, woolly”), German dunstig (“hazy, misty”).