What is "to bite the dust"

Bite \Bite\ (b[imac]t), v. t. [imp. Bit (b[i^]t); p. p. Bitten (b[i^]t"t'n), Bit; p. pr. & vb. n. Biting.] [OE. biten, AS. b[=i]tan; akin to D. bijten, OS. b[=i]tan, OHG. b[=i]zan, G. beissen, Goth. beitan, Icel. b[=i]ta, Sw. bita, Dan. bide, L. findere to cleave, Skr. bhid to cleave.

1. To seize with the teeth, so that they enter or nip the thing seized; to lacerate, crush, or wound with the teeth; as, to bite an apple; to bite a crust; the dog bit a man.

   Such smiling rogues as these, Like rats, oft bite the holy cords atwain.
   --Shak.

2. To puncture, abrade, or sting with an organ (of some insects) used in taking food.

3. To cause sharp pain, or smarting, to; to hurt or injure, in a literal or a figurative sense; as, pepper bites the mouth. ``Frosts do bite the meads.''
   --Shak.

4. To cheat; to trick; to take in. [Colloq.]
   --Pope.

5. To take hold of; to hold fast; to adhere to; as, the anchor bites the ground.

   The last screw of the rack having been turned so often that its purchase crumbled, . . . it turned and turned with nothing to bite.
   --Dickens.

   To bite the dust, To bite the ground, to fall in the agonies of death; as, he made his enemy bite the dust.

   To bite in (Etching), to corrode or eat into metallic plates by means of an acid.

   To bite the thumb at (any one), formerly a mark of contempt, designed to provoke a quarrel; to defy. ``Do you bite your thumb at us?''
   --Shak.

   To bite the tongue, to keep silence.
   --Shak.

Dust \Dust\ (d[u^]st), n. [AS. dust; cf. LG. dust, D. duist meal dust, OD. doest, donst, and G. dunst vapor, OHG. tunist, dunist, a blowing, wind, Icel. dust dust, Dan. dyst mill dust; perh. akin to L. fumus smoke, E. fume. [root]7

1. ] 1. Fine, dry particles of earth or other matter, so comminuted that they may be raised and wafted by the wind; that which is crumbled to minute portions; fine powder; as, clouds of dust; bone dust.

   Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
   --Gen. iii. 19.

   Stop! -- for thy tread is on an empire's dust.
   --Byron.

2. A single particle of earth or other matter. [R.] ``To touch a dust of England's ground.''
   --Shak.

3. The earth, as the resting place of the dead.

   For now shall sleep in the dust.
   --Job vii. 21.

4. The earthy remains of bodies once alive; the remains of the human body.

   And you may carve a shrine about my dust.
   --Tennyson.

5. Figuratively, a worthless thing.

   And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust.
   --Shak.

6. Figuratively, a low or mean condition.

   [God] raiseth up the poor out of the dust.
   --1 Sam. ii. 8.

7. Gold dust; hence: (Slang) Coined money; cash.

   Down with the dust, deposit the cash; pay down the money. [Slang] ``My lord, quoth the king, presently deposit your hundred pounds in gold, or else no going hence all the days of your life. . . . The Abbot down with his dust, and glad he escaped so, returned to Reading.''
   --Fuller.

   Dust brand (Bot.), a fungous plant ( Ustilago Carbo); -- called also smut.

   Gold dust, fine particles of gold, such as are obtained in placer mining; -- often used as money, being transferred by weight.

   In dust and ashes. See under Ashes.

   To bite the dust. See under Bite, v. t.

   To raise dust, or

   To kick up dust, to make a commotion. [Colloq.]

   To throw dust in one's eyes, to mislead; to deceive.