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dust-bath

British

noun

the action of a bird of driving dust into its feathers, which may dislodge parasites

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The nests should be in rows around the room, the feeding and water-troughs in the centre, with the dust-bath at one end.

From Natural and Artificial Duck Culture by Rankin, James

And when the incredulous shikari looked through the field-glasses he marvelled at the vision of the white man—the herdsman was under the tree as happy as a hen in a dust-bath.

From The Story of Baden-Powell 'The Wolf That Never Sleeps' by Begbie, Harold

Overhead the chicken-hawk is the only creature at work, and his shrill kite-like call sends the gaping chickens from the dust-bath in haste to their mothers.

From Letters of Travel (1892-1913) by Kipling, Rudyard

Lady farm-help, being shown her new duties, notices fowls having dust-bath.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 153, October 3, 1917 by Various

I dwell with a strangely aching heart In that vanished abode there far apart On that disused and forgotten road That has no dust-bath now for the toad.

From A Boy's Will by Frost, Robert

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023