Street voices
Hugues
·
United States
"Done and dusted. Meaning that something is fully finished, done, and finalized. Hey Darren, did you get those reports I asked for? Yes sir, they're right here. Everything's in there. Done and dusted."
What it means
You say this when a job's fully finished and buttoned up, with nothing left to chase, tweak, or mess about with. It works for paperwork, plans, errands, projects, whatever. It's got that nice little victory-lilt to it too, like you've earned a sit-down and a proper cuppa.
Usage examples
"Is the report in yet? Done and dusted, mate, sent it before the kettle boiled. Now I’m legging it to the chippy for tea."
"Sent the final draft off this morning, so the whole project is done and dusted at long last."
"Once the paperwork is signed it is all done and dusted and the keys are officially yours."
"Right, the flat's cleaned, bags are packed, taxi's booked. Done and dusted. Let's get moving."
"Got the invoices sorted before lunch, so that's done and dusted and I can stop pretending to care about spreadsheets."
Where it comes from
The picture is of finishing a hands-on job and then dusting off your palms, the work over and the mess swept away. Done and dusted means a task is fully wrapped up, settled and not coming back, with no loose ends and nothing left to fuss over.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
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