bus, n.² — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

bus n.²

[all exts. of SE (omni)bus]

1. a dowdy dress, fit only for wearing on public transport.

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 57/1: Bus (Soc., 1881). Dowdy dress. Applied only to women ; when a badly dressed victim enters a drawing-room this fatal word may be used – meaning not so much that the lady has come by bus as that her style of dress is not fitted to any sort of vehicle higher in character than the once popular one named.

2. a boat.

1915

Kipling ‘Sea Constables’ in Debits and Credits (1926) 32: Cordelia—that Southampton ketch that old Jarrott fitted with oil auxiliaries for a family cruiser last summer. She’s a beamy bus, but she can roll.

3. an aeroplane.

1910		Flight 13 Aug. 648: [caption] A Blériot ‘Bus’ being Built [OED].
1916		‘Looping the Loop’ in C.H. Ward-Jackson Airman’s Song Book (1945) 21: Whirling and twirling the whole day long, / In a bus that’s built for two.
1918		Kia Ora Coo-ee 15 June 13/1: I observed that we had suddenly run into a nest of ‘Archies’. They dogged our footsteps for 20 minutes or so which, although not long as time goes, is a veritable age when one happens to be in the ‘bus’ receiving attention.
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 41: Bus: In the War, ‘Bus’ had a wide popularity at first among airmen generally, when speaking of their own machines. Latterly, however, the word came to be regarded as rather bad form from its becoming a hackneyed expression and being taken up by outsiders.
1930		‘Leslie Charteris’ Enter the Saint 221: The dear soul wants this blinkin’ bus [i.e. a seaplane] what I’m sitting in.
1936		Portland Guardian (Vic.) 2 July 3/7: The bus took the air, fluttered hesitatingly and promptly dived into the big drink.
1942		Whizzbang Comics 84: I suppose the notion is to fly the bus over the Channel.
1952		‘Josephine Tey’ Singing Sands 130: Most of us—all of us, in fact—drop work when we turn the bus over to the ground staff.
1978		(con. 1940s) J.G. Farrell Singapore Grip 424: It’s one of the RAF buses!

4. an automobile, a truck etc, esp. a large one.

1914		C. Holme Lonely Plough (1931) 67: Do her a lot more good than stuffing along in an old ’bus.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 3 July 4/6: Bobby was driving [...] Three as a crash and a bang [...] Bob decided to sue Hill for smashing his bus .
1914		W. Hoban Jerry on the Job 23 July [sund. cartoon strip] I’ve had the auto ‘big’ a long time. So I just up and bought myself the niftiest l’il bus y’ever saw.
1917		G. Bowerman diary 23 Nov. in Carnes Compensations of War (1983) 49: She was a darned good bus. But Fiats are too heavy & burn too much gas.
1921		D.L. Sayers Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1977) 89: She’s a jolly decent bus.
1921		N. Putnam West Broadway 41: ‘What do you say if we take the old bus and drive the whole way!’.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: bus. A contraction of omnibus applied in the army to aeroplane omnibuses or motor lorries used by the British Army.
1928		R. Carr Rampant Age 213: You mean – steal the bus outa the garage?
1933		W.R. Burnett Dark Hazard (1934) 105: Hello, Turner! Been buying yourself a new bus, I see.
1937		J. Betjeman ‘Exeter’ in Continual Dew n.p.: The doctor jumps in his Morris car, / The surgery door goes bang, / Clash and whirr down Colleton Crescent, / All other cars go hang / My little bus is enough for us.
1947		S. Lewis Kingsblood Royal (2001) 25: I thought they’d slink off repentantly in his car (which is quite a bus, by the way).
1950		A. Buckeridge Jennings Goes To School 111: Won’t make the old bus go any faster.
1954		T. Ronan Vision Splendid 314: ‘Don’t want your bus,’ Bryan told him.
1961		B. Crump Hang On a Minute, Mate (1963) 24: You’ve got no idea the work and expense we’ve put into this old bus.
1970		A. Sillitoe Start in Life (1979) 79: Can’t this grim bus go any quicker?
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 113: They blew my windows out — the bus jumped in the air.
1986		P. O’Farrell Tell me, Sean O’Farrell 93: When, like myself, the old bus became more disabled, the family discussed what was to become of her.
1996		P. Temple Bad Debts (2012) [ebook] Nice bus this [...] but it hasn’t got the legs for this kind of thing [i.e. a high-speed pursuit].
2000		(con. 1940s–60s) Décharné Straight from the Fridge Dad.

5. a motorcycle, a motorcycle and side-car.

1920		Marvel 22 May 17: Be careful, in that old bus!
1938		F. Anthony ‘Gus Tomlins’ in Me And Gus (1977) 115: I was waiting for the rattle of his old bus.
1976		(con. 1944) J. Braine Waiting for Sheila (1977) 90: I’ll take you for a spin in my little bus.

6. (US) an elevator, a lift.

1934

Weseen Dict. Amer. Sl.

7. (US campus) a fat woman.

1986

Eble Campus Sl. Nov.

8. (US) an ambulance.

1983		B. Gelb Vanished Brass 96: As the cop gasps and covers his eyes, one of his companions says to another, ‘Call a bus’ (meaning an ambulance).
1990		M. McAlary Crack War (1991) 81: ‘“We got a police officer shot. Get a bus here forthwith.” Not that an ambulance would have saved him.
2008		P. Moskos Cop in the Hood 35: Baltimore and New York City Police have different terms for many similar items such as ambulance (’ambo’ in Baltimore versus ‘bus’ in New York).

SE in slang uses

In compounds

bus driver (v.) [the player ‘takes the opponent to school’]

(US juv.) a superior player, usu. in ‘one-on-one’ games, e.g. basketball.

2001

OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 bus driver adj. Used in sports, mostly in isolation situations (one on one) in basketball, American football, and baseball (usually in strikeout situations. You call the prevailing player a ‘bus driver’ because he took the other player to school. This is common in playground basketball. The shorthand is to just say ‘school’ when a particular player gets burned.

9. (N.Z. prison) a portion of marijuana wrapped in tinfoil.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 34/2: bus fare n. a tinny (marijuana wrapped in tinfoil): ‘I’m getting out soon; could you get some bus fares jacked up?’.

busman (n.)

(Aus. prison) the Ombudsman.

1984

B. Ellem Doing Time 82: The Ombudsman [...] the officers, they’ve made a joke out of him. The screws call him the ‘bus man’. ‘Oh, you’re gonna write to the bus man!’ .

bus ride (n.)

1. (US prison) a court appearance, to which one is conveyed by bus.

1985		Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, IL) 7 Apr. 4/1: Prison Slang [...] Bus ride: Court appearance.
2000		Texas Lawyer [journal] Gloss. of Texas Prison Sl. 8 Feb. n.p.: Bus ride — A court appearance.

2. (N.Z. prison) transer between prisons, carried out on a bus.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 34/2: bus ride n. a transfer to another prison.

bus stop (n.)

(N.Z. prison) any form of waiting room in prison or at court.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 34/2: bus stop n. [...] a small waiting room or alcove where an inmate is put, e.g. while he or she is awaiting an interview; waiting to be escorted somewhere, either within the prison, or outside e.g. to court.

bus therapy (n.)

(US prison) moving prisoners from one institution to another to ensure their isolation from lawyers, family etc.

2000

Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Bus Therapy: The practice of transferring prisoners from one institution to another, to keep them away from their property, visits, and other contacts. Particularly used in the federal system. Also known as ‘diesel therapy,’ ‘grey goose therapy,’ or ‘round robin.’.

bus ticket (n.)

(N.Z. prison) a transfer between prisons.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 35/1: bus ticket n. a transfer to another prison.

In phrases

bus-bellied ben (n.) [his stomach has the dimensions of an omnibus; hence the rhyme ‘Bus-bellied Ben/Eats enough for ten’]

an alderman.

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 57/1: Bus-bellied Ben (Street, E.C., 1840 on). An ordinary name for an alderman, who used to be frequently corpulent. [...] The satire was completed by a couplet— Bus-bellied Ben; / Eats enough for ten.

drive the (porcelain) bus (v.)

see under drive v.¹

get on the big bus (v.)

(N.Z. prison) to be transferred between prisons.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 16/2: get on the big bus to be transferred to another prison.

on the bus [coined c.1965 by novelist and psychedelic guru Ken Kesey (1935–2001), whose ‘Merry Pranksters’ drove across America on a bus, named Furthur [sic], from San Francisco to Millbrook, New York, where Kesey’s opposite number, Timothy Leary (1920–96) held court]

used of one who is part of a group, sharing the joint consciousness; thus off the bus, abandoning the group and its beliefs and ethos.

1984		Eble Campus Sl. Sept. 6: on the bus/off the bus – to be in tune with a group.
1997–2002		Valteamo ‘VALaholics’ [poem] at PlanetKilmer.com 🌐 VALaholics!! / They’re on the bus / you’re off the bus / with this sort of thing. / You don’t hear the chimes / while Val makes / their bells ring!

throw (someone) under the bus (v.)

(US) to betray, to sacrifice (an individual).

2020		D. Soh End of Gender 29: [T]hose who claim to be pro-science [...] will gladly throw science under the bus when it suits their political goals.
2022		A. Kirzman Giuliani 334: Giuliani joked to the Guardian that he had ‘very, very good insurance’ in case Trump threw him under the bus.

bus n.2

SE in slang uses

In compounds

In phrases

bus n.²