eat someone's dust
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to be left behind or surpassed by someone
Literally: to ingest particles of someone's dirt
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The new employee ate her boss's dust in the sales competition
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “eat someone's dust” mean?
to be left behind or surpassed by someone Literally: to ingest particles of someone's dirt
Is “eat someone's dust” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.