Word.ws English Dictionary

gathering dust

gathering dust is the present participle and gerund of gather dust.

Meaning of gather dust

Verb

gather dust (third-person singular simple present gathers dust, present participle gathering dust, simple past and past participle gathered dust)

  1. (idiomatic) To remain unused for a long period of time.
    • Since he bought the book, it's just been sitting on the bookshelf and gathering dust.

Questions about gathering dust

What is gathering dust the present participle and gerund of?
Gathering dust is the present participle and gerund of gather dust.

Words near gathering dust in the dictionary

  1. gathering
  2. gathering board
  3. gathering boards
  4. gathering coal
  5. gathering coals
  6. gathering dust
  7. gathering hoop
  8. gathering hoops
  9. Gathering of Waters
  10. gathering oneself
  11. gathering oneself together

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gathering dust (page history and authors); gather dust (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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