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Bustle

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bustle¹

  • /ˈbʌsəl/

Rhymes with -ʌsəl

Where it comes from

From Middle English bustlen, bustelen, bostlen, perhaps an alteration of *busklen (> Modern English buskle), a frequentative of Middle English busken (“to prepare; make ready”), from Old Norse búask (“to prepare oneself”); or alternatively from a frequentative form of Middle English busten, bisten (“to buffet; pummel; dash; beat”) + -le. Compare also Icelandic bustla (“to splash; bustle”).

The etymology of noun sense 3 is uncertain, perhaps related to busk (“strip in a corset”) or German Buschel.

noun bustles

  1. countable, uncountable An excited activity; a stir. the hum and bustle; a din and bustle
  2. countable A cover to protect and hide the back panel of a computer or other office machine.
  3. countable, historical A frame worn underneath a woman's skirt, typically only protruding from the rear as opposed to the earlier more circular hoops. A grotesque-looking lady wearing a bustle (Anna mentally undressed the woman, and was appalled at her hideousness), and a little girl laughing affectedly ran down the platform.
  4. UK, obsolete, slang, uncountable Money; cash. Why the old clerical's turned coper—a new way of raising the wind——letting his friends down easy—gave you a good dinner, I suppose, Sir John, and took this method of drawing the bustle for it: an old trick of the reverend's.

verb bustles · bustling · bustled

  1. To move busily and energetically with fussiness (often followed by about). The commuters bustled about inside the train station.
  2. To teem or abound (usually followed by with); to exhibit an energetic and active abundance (of a thing). The train station was bustling with commuters.
  3. transitive To push around, to importune. Don’t bustle her or fuss or snatch: / A suitor looking at his watch / Is not a posture that persuades / Willing, much less reluctant maids.

Bustle²

Where it comes from

Possibly an Americanized spelling of South German Bastl or a variant of Bussell.

proper noun Bustles

  1. A surname from German.

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