To mislead someone. This term, already known in ancient Roman times, comes from the practice of soldiers confounding the enemy by literally throwing dust or sand in the air, creating a primitive kind of smoke screen. Used by Mohammed’s armies as well as many other early peoples, the practice was referred to by Erasmus (Adagia, 1523), who called it “A useful stratagem.” By Benjamin Franklin’s time the term was being used figuratively. “It required a long discourse to throw dust in the eyes of common sense,” he wrote (Works, 1767).