1.
covered in dust; dusty; dust-covered
Describes something or someone that is thickly coated with dust. Uses the まみれ pattern meaning 'covered with' or 'smeared with' something undesirable.
倉庫の中は埃まみれだった。
The inside of the warehouse was covered in dust.
埃まみれの本を棚から取り出した。
I took out a dust-covered book from the shelf.
引っ越しの作業で埃まみれになったので、すぐにシャワーを浴びた。
I got covered in dust from the moving work, so I took a shower right away.
Compound of 埃 (dust) + まみれ (covered with). The suffix まみれ attaches to nouns to indicate being covered or smeared with something, typically something unpleasant or messy.
THE まみれ PATTERN:
まみれ always implies a negative or unclean covering. It cannot be used for pleasant things.
- 血まみれ: covered in blood
- 泥まみれ: covered in mud
- 汗まみれ: drenched in sweat
- 借金まみれ: drowning in debt (figurative)
GRAMMAR:
- As a noun modifier: 埃まみれの + noun (埃まみれの部屋)
- As a predicate: 埃まみれだ / 埃まみれになる
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 埃だらけ: full of dust — similar meaning but だらけ focuses on quantity (lots of dust everywhere) while まみれ focuses on being coated
- 汚れた: dirty; soiled — general term for being dirty, not specific to dust