exodust means of an African-American: to leave a state in the Southern United States as part of a mass migration, especially the Exodus of 1879. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 79 out of 100.
Why this word is great
EXODUST — [Verb] Of an African-American, to leave a Southern U.S. state as part of a mass migration, especially the Exodus of 1879. A back-formation from Exoduster (a participant in the Exodus of 1879), itself from Exodus (a mass departure) + -ster (agent suffix). Unlike "emigrate," which implies a formal crossing of national borders, or "flee," which suggests a panicked escape from immediate peril, to exodust is to enact a deliberate, collective pilgrimage within a nation's bounds. It is the sound of trunks being latched in the heavy dark before dawn, the determined, weary press of bodies in a crowded wagon heading west, and the tactile memory of red clay dust shaken from worn shoes onto a Kansas railroad platform—a secular pilgrimage toward a promised land that was always, merely, land: the weary, practical hope of building a future from the very dust of departure.
verb
- Of an African-American: to leave a state in the Southern United States as part of a mass migration, especially the Exodus of 1879.