Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also burster) a person, often an old and cantankerous one; thus (old) buster, a general term of (affectionate) address.

1842		Flash (N.Y.) 1:4 10 July 3/4: An old burster named [Ann] Heath lay on two chairs with her hair dishevelled and her smock open.
c.1850		F.M. Whitcher Widow Bedott Papers (1883) 29: Treemenjous! What a buster!
1868		Reade & Boucicault Foul Play III 257: Well, parson, you are a Buster, you air. You ginn it us hot, you did.
1872		Schele De Vere Americanisms 216: One said to the other, ‘Hal, whom will you bet on?’ The reply was, ‘I’ll bet on this little monkey-faced fellow.’ ‘All right,’ says the first, ‘I’ll go this cock-eyed old buster in the red wig.’.
1888		Soldiers’ Stories and Sailors’ Yarns 5: He hated to be thought an ‘old buster’, to use his own expression.
1890		‘’Arry on the ’Oliday Season’ Punch 16 Aug. 74/3: ‘What cheer, bobby, old buster,’ I bellered.
1905		H.A. Vachell Hill 137: You funny old buster.
1919		Wodehouse Damsel in Distress (1961) 171: I tell you, there’s somethin’ happened to the old buster – you mark my words!
1925		Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves 3: This Lord Worplesdon was Florence’s father. He was the old buster.
1947		S.J. Perelman Westward Ha! 45: ‘Search me, Buster,’ he shrugged.
1952		L. Lariar Day I Died 180: Either you talk or we take you for a ride, Buster.
1958		Mad mag. May-June 20: If they spot you, Buster, they’ll conk you out.
1960		Wodehouse Jeeves in the Offing 4: I knew the old buster’s distaste for guests in the home. [Ibid.] 171: Beginning with a curt ‘Listen, Buster’.
1963–74		B. Humphries Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 40: What are you on about buster?
1968		A. Burgess Enderby Outside in Complete Enderby (2002) 322: All right, buster. Let’s hear from you.
1970		T. Southern Blue Movie (1974) 178: Three-fifteen, and you haven’t got the first shot! You’re in trouble now, buster!
1971		N. Smith Gumshoe (1998) 25: Don’t flip your wig, buster.
1978		P. Theroux Picture Palace 18: Act your age, buster, or I’ll call a cop. [Ibid.] 140: You came to the wrong place, buster.
1988		D. Woodrell Muscle for the Wing 17: Nice stuff, huh, buster?
1993		Tarantino & Avery Pulp Fiction [film script] 131: Get it straight, Buster. I am not here to say ‘Please’.
2001		K. Waterhouse Soho 157: Not me, buster, thought Alex. We’re talking about me emigrating to Australia, sharpish, if need be.
2006		C. Hiaasen Nature Girl 23: Not so fast, buster.
2010		L. Berney Gutshot Straight [ebook] ‘You and me both, buster,’ she said.

2. (US prison) someone from Northern Mexico.

2000

Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Buster: [...] (2) A term for ‘Northern Mexicans’ used by ‘Southern Mexicans’.