to beat the dust out
- phrasal verb
:
sacudir el polvo
- After the rain, she decided to beat the dust out of the curtains to freshen them up.
Examples
-
He beat the dust out of the old carpet before putting it back in the living room.
-
Anna Scott was beating the dust out of a rug in Mrs. Lessing's side yard.
Fiction book (2001) -
Every spring, they beat the dust out of their outdoor mats to keep the deck clean.
Synonyms
227
1.0
To clean a floor or surface by brushing away dirt with a broom
66
1.0
To remove small dry particles from a surface by wiping or brushing
48
1.7
Clean a floor or carpet with a machine that sucks up dirt
10
2.9
Remove dust and crumbs by shaking something
9
2.0
Clean something using water to remove dirt or stains
1
2.0
To clean a rug by lifting it and beating dust and crumbs out
1
1.0
To remove dirt or mud from a surface
1
4.3
To clean a carpet or floor using a vacuum cleaner
To clean dust and dirt from something using quick movements
To clean a carpet or floor with a vacuum cleaner
Antonyms
How Clean
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to remove dust or dirt by hitting or shaking' is directly compositional from 'beat' (to hit repeatedly) + 'dust' (particles) + the particle 'out' (away/remove). This follows a common English verb + object + particle pattern for removal actions and would be inferable by a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
Beat the dust out comes from a simple household scene: people hung rugs or blankets and beat them with a stick so the dust would fall out. So it now means 'to remove dust or dirt by hitting or shaking something'.