bust
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bust¹
- /bʌst/ Canada, US, UK
- /bʊst/ Northern England
- /bɐst/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like bussed, bused · Rhymes with -ʌst
Where it comes from
From Middle English busten, a variant of bursten, bresten (“to burst”). Compare Low German basten, a variant of barsten (“to burst”). Cognate with burst and bost.
verb busts · busting · busted · bust
- To break. I busted my cooker while trying to fix it.
- To arrest (someone or a group of people) for a crime. Aaron got busted by the feds for leaking confidential government documents on Reddit.
- To catch (someone) in the act of doing something wrong, socially and morally inappropriate, or illegal, especially when being done in a sneaky or secretive state.
- To debunk, dispel (a belief). We want to bust the myth that real men don't eat quiche.
- An emphatic synonym of do or get. He busted huge air off that jump!
- To reduce in rank. He busted him down to patrolman for insubordination.
- To undo a trade, generally an error trade, that has already been executed.
- To lose all of one's chips.
- To exceed a score of 21.
- To break in (an animal). A few weeks later, Richard was killed accidentally while busting a wild mustang […]
- To have sex with (a woman or girl) for the first time, to take another's virginity. Smith hears Nancy's protests - "Don't ... no, please don't." - when Hicock menaces her with "You ever had a man?" Finding Hicock rubbing her thigh as she whimpers in fear, Smith confronts him about his intentions, and Hicock says, "First, I'm going to bust that little girl." Smith tells him no, but
- To ejaculate; to eject semen or to squirt. I busted a fat one just wackin' it to the selfie she sent me.
- For a headline to exceed the amount of space reserved for it. The temptation to squeeze in a favourite headline that busts by using the flexibility of new technology is often very strong.
- To refute an established opening. So is the King's Gambit really busted?
- To shoot (a gun). He busted his glock.
- To attack, hit or insult (someone). He's always busting on you.
- To do or perform; to move quickly. Bust a left turn.
noun busts
- The act of arresting someone for a crime, or raiding a suspected criminal operation. a narcotics bust
- A police raid or takedown of a criminal enterprise.
- A failed enterprise; a bomb.
- A refutation of an opening, or of a previously published analysis.
- A disappointment. Paris was a bust. They wouldn't even let us see the Mona Lisa.
- A player who fails to meet expectations.
- The downward portion of a boom and bust cycle; a recession.
- A spree, unrestrained revel, or wild party.
adjective
- Without any money, broke, bankrupt. After months of financial problems, the company finally went bust.
bust²
- /bʌst/ Canada, US, UK
- /bʊst/ Northern England
- /bɐst/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like bussed, bused · Rhymes with -ʌst
Where it comes from
Etymology tree
Latin būstum
Italian bustobor.
French bustebor.
English bust
Borrowed from French buste, from Italian busto (“torso, upper body”), assumed to stem from Latin bustum (“funeral monument, tomb," originally "funeral pyre, place where corpses are burned”). Perhaps shortened from Latin ambustum, neuter of ambustus (“scorched”), past participle of ambūrō (“burn all over, scorch”), from ambi- (“around”) + ūrō (“to burn”).
Compare Old Norse beysti.
noun busts
- A sculptural portrayal of a person's head and shoulders.
- A woman's breasts; the circumference of her chest measured around the breasts.
