Small particles of matter found on the ground, out of which man was formed, to whom it was said, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen. 2:7; Gen. 3:19). “The first man is of the earth, earthy” (1 Cor. 15:47). It is used as a symbol of weakness: “he remembereth that we are dust” (Psa. 103:14). To “lick the dust” is figurative of defeat (Psa. 72:9). To “cast dust upon the head” was a sign of grief (Ezek. 27:30; Rev. 18:19). To “shake the dust off the feet” on leaving a city where the servants of Christ had been rejected, was leaving them to judgment: not even the dust of their city should be presented before the messengers’ Master (Matt. 10:14; Acts 13:51). Similarly dust was cast or shaken into the air by men in great indignation (Acts 22:23).