duster

Everyday

1. A cloth for wiping dust off furniture and shelves. tree →
2. A board duster or board rubber: a pad used to wipe a chalkboard or whiteboard clean. tree →
3. (US, Australia) A long, light coat worn to keep dust off, especially by riders. tree →
4. A light housecoat. tree →

In the lessons

An everyday word from cleaning and from the classroom: teachers use a board duster. Phrases: «feather duster», «give the shelves a going-over with a duster». In old stories maids carry dusters; in Westerns cowboys wear dusters.

Examples

• Mum gave me a yellow duster to polish the table. tree →
• The teacher wiped the board with a duster. tree →
• Grandma uses a feather duster on the high shelves. tree →
• Mole spring-cleaned his house with brooms and dusters until his back ached. tree →
• The cowboy wore a long brown duster. tree →
• Shake the duster outside so the dust doesn't fly back in. tree →
• The board duster was full of chalk. tree →

Note

Countable: a duster, dusters. From «dust» + -er (a thing that removes dust). In the UK «duster» usually means the cloth; in the USA «dust cloth» or «dust rag» is common, and «duster» more often means the coat or a feather duster. A «crop duster» is a plane that sprays crops.