different between undust vs unlust

English

Etymology

From un- +? dust.

Verb

undust (third-person singular simple present undusts, present participle undusting, simple past and past participle undusted)

1. (transitive) To free from dust; remove dust from
   • 1987, Robert C. Kriebel, Plain Ol' Charlie Deam: Pioneer Hoosier Botanist - Page 70:

     It took the state accountants awhile to undust [cq] and figure out his travel expense claims. They would include maybe a pound of coffee, a dozen eggs, a package of cereal, etc. No hotel bills.

   • 1998, Irvin D. Yalom, The Yalom Reader:

     Those members of a couple who had been the audience to a spouse who had been the “appreciator” (of art, music, natural beauty) had to undust and unpack long-unused sensory organs. This new sense of self, exhilarating as it was, also carries a bittersweet tinge for most members.

   • 2011, M.A. Lyons, Ph.D. & Franklyn Grace Lyons, War Scribe: First Reports Out: Europe Post V-E Day:

     With the light at the end of the tunnel now visible, my daughters chose to undust a manuscript of their grandfather's, his son John, which was written in 1971.

   • 2011, Linda Jean, Izzy's Summer - Page 144:

     My momma even said I didn't have to undust her knickknacks every week. I only had to do it twice a month now. I figured that was about twenty-eight weeks a year that I didn't have to do that chore, and that seemed like a good deal to me.

   • 2013, George Saunders, Pastoralia - Page 82:

     She gave the green top a snap to undust it and discipline it and, putting the strip of molding and the dirty sock on the step, changed tops right then and there, picked up the molding, threw the dirty sock over her shoulder, and pounded back down the stairs.

Synonyms

• dust
• dust off

Anagrams

• tuduns

English

Etymology

From Middle English unlust, from Old English unlust (“displeasure, dislike”), from Proto-West Germanic *unlust, from Proto-Germanic *unlustuz (“listlessness”). Equivalent to un- +? lust.

Noun

unlust (countable and uncountable, plural unlusts)

1. (rare) Displeasure; dislike.
   • 1983, Alison Waley, A Half of Two Lives:

     Poetry for me wove its own spell to secure me against all 'unlusts' - all criticisms - even against joylessness: I was set apart; in safety; as secure - in this way - as he. Who was in that audience, I wonder now? That all was success is certain.

2. (obsolete) listlessness; disinclination.

   • He doth all thing with annoye, and with wrawnesse, slaknesse, and excusation, with idlenesse and unlust.

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *unlustuz. Equivalent to un- +? lust. Cognate with Gothic ???????????????????????????????? (unlustus, “apathy, listlessness”) and German Unlust (“lack of desire, aversion”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?un?lust/

Noun

unlust m

1. absence of desire; disgust, disinclination, listlessness
2. want of pleasure; joylessness, weariness
3. evil pleasure, lust

Declension

Descendants

• Middle English: unlust
  • English: unlust

Derived terms

• unlustian

References

• Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) , “unlust”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.