to collect dust
8
3.7
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
acumular polvo
- The old video games have been sitting in the closet, just collecting dust for years.
- collect dust on the shelf
- collecting dust in the closet
- sit collecting dust
And now they're collecting dust, unused.
- And now they're collecting dust, unused.
- Their espresso maker probably serves them well, but it would collect dust in my kitchen they might find.
Examples
-
After the new technology arrived, the outdated printer was left collecting dust on the shelf.
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But even championship trophies will one day collect dust and be forgotten.
-
Everything just seems to collect dust.
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So these things will sit in my storage room collecting dust for years until I finally decide to do something with them.
-
If they want to let those pieces of paper sit around collecting dust, then great.
Blog text (25) -
Apparently, the studio is just kind of sitting on it, letting it collect dust.
Blog text (10) -
I hope they do not collect dust on the shelves.
Academic text (2000) -
Your container was sitting there collecting dust.
-
And last year, you really, really wanted a set of weights, which is now collecting dust in the garage.
Fiction book (1998) -
The plan had very little effect, and, like so many such plans, sat on the shelf in City Hall, collecting dust.
Academic text (2001)
Synonyms
To collect dust when it is not used
Antonyms
How Dusty
- Informal
8
3.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to remain unused or neglected' is directly and transparently derived from 'collect' (to gather) + 'dust' (particles) because unused objects naturally 'gather' or 'collect' dust. This concrete, image-based mapping is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would likely infer the intended figurative meaning.
Etymology
The phrase collect dust comes from the simple image of an old bike left in a garage that slowly gets covered with dust because no one uses it. The verb collect shows the slow build-up, so saying something collects dust means it is 'unused' or 'forgotten'.