Green’s Dictionary of Slang

buns n.

[joc. resemblance to the foodstuffs]

1. the buttocks; occas. in sing.

[VMF-23] Old Ballads 13: She sat down and couldn’t get her bun free [HDAS].
[US](con. 1958) R. Farina Been Down So Long (1972) 61: You bet your rosy buns they threw me out.
[US]S. King Stand (1990) 73: What his money and her brains hadn’t been able to take care of [...] she had done the old-fashioned way: by bending her back and shucking her buns. Working and working hard.
[US]‘Joe Bob Briggs’ Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 31: I’m not into pain, but Joanna Perkins does a pretty good job of taking it on the buns with a riding crop.
[US]C. Hiaasen Lucky You 214: I’ll bet that cute little waitress is freezing her buns in those shorts.
[US]J. Lerner You Got Nothing Coming 265: I adjust my sore buns on the toilet seat.
[Scot]I. Rankin Fleshmarket Close (2005) 53: The buns on Kenny Reilly!!!
[US]S. Kohler [bk title] Another Bunch of Warm Buns: Spanking Short Stories.
[US]J. Stahl Bad Sex on Speed 119: Mother Theresa [...] loved to put Tru-Tru buns up and diaper him.

2. a woman’s breasts.

[US]J.P. Donleavy Ginger Man (1958) 276: Lilly, I never get tired of your white thirty-four year old bubas, buns or beauties. Or will I get over how much I like to imagine them under that green pajama top.
Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority 🌐 One of the jailers asked if he could have the ‘buns’ on her body and put his hand on her breast.

3. fig. one’s body.

[US]S. King It (1987) 48: As soon as he understood he had gotten his buns into some hot water.
[US]R. Campbell Sweet La-La Land (1999) 37: Hogan and Roach and Duckie strutting their buns.

4. (US) in fig. use, as an emphatic form of a given action, e.g. [verb] one’s buns (off).

[US]The Case for Extinction 19/2: [T]he coldest reaches of the Arctic, where you can freeze your buns off.
[US]Skiing (US) Dec. 25: [advert] SKI YOUR BUNS OFF IN A FREE SET OF NEW LANGE BOOTS.
[US]J. Roe The Same Old Grind 15: ‘You’re working your buns off for no money’.
[US]T. Wolff (con. mid-1950s) This Boy’s Life 100: Dad says you better get a move on, or else. Dad says hustle your buns, or else.
Gaffney Ledger (SC) 12 Apr. 4/3: Back in the old days [...] skating parties became the ‘in’ thing [...] you’d invite all your friends [...] and skate your little buns off.

In compounds

bun boy (n.)

a homosexual; by stereotype, a sycophant.

[US](con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 275: He dropped treats on rugs and chairs: Dildoes/reefers/bun-boy boox/Judy Garland LPs.
R. Sullivan LAbyrinth 192: [He] treated the Compton mayor like one of his bun boys.
bun buddy (n.)

a male homsexual, stereotyped as a lover of anal intercourse.

‘H.G. Ebbett’ From This Port On n.p.: ‘Tommy’s Bun Buddy!’.
J. Ellroy Destination: Morgue 357: He banged bun bunnies on the Boys’ Town Strip.
bun merchant (n.) [merchant n.]

(US gay) a male prostitute specializing in taking a passive role.

[US]Lavender Lex. n.p.: buns:– The buttocks. A male-prostitute engaging as a receptor in sodomy would be a ‘bun merchant’.
bun-spread (n.)

(US prison) an anal search.

[US]J. Stahl Pain Killers 18: Course, if you’d have given him that lighter, we’d be marchin’ you to intake for a bun-spread yourself.

In phrases

strut one’s buns (v.)

(US gay) to walk in an exaggerated way, intended to focus attention on one’s tight buttocks.

[US]L. Kramer Faggots 82: Strut Them Buns.

In exclamations

my buns!

a general excl. of disdain, dismissal, arrogant contempt.

[US]O. Hawkins Ghetto Sketches 52: Black cul-tural nationalism, my buns!