1. To make something clear, or cleaner, by brushing or wiping dirt from the surface of something: The cleaning lady dusted the tables, bookshelves, etc. at least once a week.

When Christa comes back from the beach, she always dusts the sand off her legs before she goes into her house.

2. To cover something with a fine powder: The police dusted the table and chairs for fingerprints.

William's mother usually dusts the cake with powdered sugar.

The farmer is dusting his crops with a pesticide.

3. Etymology: from about 1200, "to rise as dust"; later it came to mean both "to sprinkle with dust" and "to rid of dust". The meaning, "to kill" is a U.S. slang term that was first recorded 1938; such as, "he was known to bite the dust as a result of the auto accident".