powder [ME] Latin pulvis ‘dust’ is the source of pulverize [LME] as well as powder, which came into English via Old French poudre. If someone tells you to keep your powder dry they mean that you should be ready for action. Popular tradition attributes the advice put your trust in God, and keep your powder dry to the English statesman and general Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) but the line did not appear until the mid 19th century, nearly 300 years after his death, in an Irish ballad.