a dusty answer

a dusty answer

old-fashioned A curt, rude, or unhelpful answer or response. Primarily heard in UK. I got a dusty answer from the customer service agent when I asked if I could cancel my contract early. If you're hoping to get an extension on the assignment from the professor, you're likely to get a dusty answer.
See also: answer, dusty
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a dusty answer

or

a dusty reply

BRITISH, OLD-FASHIONED
If you ask for something or suggest something and you get a dusty answer or a dusty reply, you receive an unpleasant and negative answer. He asked three times to speak to the king, but each time received a dusty answer. Ask a world-class sportsman to spend several hours testing your product and you are likely to receive a dusty reply.
See also: answer, dusty
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

a dusty answer

a curt and unhelpful reply. British
The source of this expression is probably a passage in George Meredith's Modern Love ( 1862 ): ‘Ah, what a dusty answer gets the soul when hot for certainties in this our life!’
See also: answer, dusty
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

a dusty ˈanswer

(old-fashioned, British English) an unhelpful or a sharp response to a request or question: When I asked the company what their policy was on this matter, I received a very dusty answer.
See also: answer, dusty
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • dusty
  • reply
  • answer back to (one)
  • fraid
  • (I'm) (a)fraid not
  • afraid
  • afraid not
  • answer (one's) purpose
  • answer purpose
  • ask me one on sport
References in periodicals archive
We ask our artists too often: "What have you done for us lately?" - and woe betide them if it's a dusty answer. And also, perhaps we need some national gallery of modern dance, some company that could keep in repertoire a selection of masterworks of the unfairly forgotten and unjustly unconsidered.
Dance - its lost tradition