Green’s Dictionary of Slang

burst n.2

also bust
[SE burst, a sudden flurry of activity; 20C use is mainly Aus.]

a spree, a party with much eating and excessive drinking.

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[US]Boston Satirist (MA) 3 Feb. n.p.: New Bedford Wants to Know [...] If A.V. would go on another burst [...] if he had half a of a saw horse to spare?
[US]Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 22 Nov. n.p.: When is Jim H—m, the dry goods man, going on another bust?
[US]Matsell Vocabulum 16: burst [...] a spree.
[UK]Sportsman (London) ‘Notes on News’ 2 Aug. 4/1: With the unfortunate Shah, it appears to be a case of, as the Scotch have it, ‘a hunger or a burst’.
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Apr. 10/1: Ah, what a Belshazzar burst we should launch out upon then! What suppers, where the wit should sparkle and the whisky flow, and the expense be hanged, we would give in those days!
[Aus]‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer III 53: And I know he had a ‘burst’ at that wretched Stockman’s Arms the last time he was down the river.
[UK]E.W. Rogers [perf. Walter Monroe] ‘The Best Man’ 🎵 Down at McGilligan’s wedding, bejabbers we had a mighty burst.
[Aus]E. Dyson ‘A Big “Bust”‘ in Bulletin Reciter n.p.: The wildest bust I ever struck [...] / Was run up by a gentleman they christened ‘Heavy Ned’.
[Aus]Sun. Times (Perth) 17 Feb. 4/8: When you come to consider the thirsts / Of the Hacketts, the Hockings and such, / When you figure on paper the bursts, / And reckon them up at so much.
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 3 Oct. 48/1: ‘When the job’s over I must have a four-weeks’ burst, and then I want you to look after me, after the fourth week, when I’ve ‘got the rats.’ That’s the time one needs a man to lean on.’.
[UK]‘Sapper’ No Man’s Land 190: Just a little money, just enough to have a burst in England.
[Aus]E.G. Murphy ‘’Is ’Arp’ in Dryblower’s Verses 10: They little knoo this ’Arry ’Urst / Would bang ’ees brother when in beer; / They little knoo on ev’ry burst / ’E’d plug an eye and fill an ear.

In phrases

give someone a burst (v.)

(Aus.) to tell off, to reprimand.

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[Aus]N. Cummins Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] The local dignitary was giving a speech when one of the boys decided to swing nude from a rafter in front of him. The wife of the big wheel gave him a burst and told him to go outside.
(go) on the burst

(to go) out on a spree, (to go) on a binge of food and drink.

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[UK]H. Kingsley Hillyars and Burtons (1870) 158: What with [...] all the hands on the burst at once, it was enough to make her anxious.
[Aus]‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 209: Now and then one of the old colonial hands, when they were regularly ‘on the burst,’ would empty a dozen of champagne into a bucket or light their pipes with a ten-pound note.
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 16 Aug. 10/1: Yes, drunk again, you understand, / He’s gone upon the burst; / For all the wealth of sea or land / He would not sell his thirst.
[Aus]H. Nisbet Bushranger’s Sweetheart 79: She had received some money [...] and was therefore going on the ‘burst’ next day.
[Aus]‘Banjo’ Paterson ‘The City of Dreadful Thirst’ in Rio Grande’s Last Race (1904) 30: We all chucked-up our daily work and went upon the burst.
[Aus]E. Dyson ‘A Big “Bust”‘ in Bulletin Reciter n.p.: He went out on the bust one time, an’ when the devils come / He scooted for the plain with ’arf a yard o’ Hogan’s rum.
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 4 Aug. 10/1: Do you wander where the beer-leaves grow, or take a parlor tot? / Please inform me, do you ever go / Upon the burst or not?
[Aus]E.G. Murphy ‘’Is ’Arp’ in Dryblower’s Verses 10: A pommy pea named ’Arry ’Urst, / But two years out in Aussie-land, / Went on a roarin’, ragin’ burst.
[NZ] (ref. to 1890–1910) L.G.D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs (1951) 366: Burst, Bust – Drinking bout, e.g., ‘He has been on the burst for a week’.