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.
2024		C. Stella Joey Piss Pot 56: ‘Get Jerry on tape whining about Carmine, and if he finds the recorder, he kills me and loses the tape. No thanks, buster’.

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’.