Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to stop something, e.g. a fight, happening.

1895		Cook Co. Herald (MN) 23 Mar. 4/4: That confounded editor is roasting me again. Tell me how I can bust up his infernal paper.
1900		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 7 Nov. 1/3: Hearing of his success in Australia the poor law guardians sent the son out, and so ‘bust up’ the show.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 42: Seems tough for me to bust up now.
1909		Van Loan ‘The Low Brow’ in Big League (2004) 23: We’ve got to bust this thing up somehow.
1922		S. Lewis Babbitt (1974) 119: Well, sir, it’s been a great session. Sorry to bust it up.
1938		J. Curtis They Drive by Night 168: Even getting a cigarette off them bust things up momentarily.
1941		K. Tennant Battlers 90: If we did get it going, the police ‘ud bust it up.
1953		I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 21: As long as there’s a coincentration camp in New Zealand, I’ll be having a crack at busting it up.
1947		N. Algren Neon Wilderness (1986) 44: You shoulda seen him when the coppers bust it [i.e. a fight] up.
1966		H.S. Thompson Hell’s Angels (1967) 111: The Chronicle uncovered a heart-wrenching Hell’s Angels plan to ‘bust up’ a charity benefit for The Guide Dogs for the Blind.

2. (also bust) to have a major quarrel, to end a love-affair, to divorce.

1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 19 Nov. n.p.: the whip wants to know Lewis, you ‘should’nt ought to’ have run away from your fair bride after you ‘busted up’.
1912		Mencken letter 12 Nov. in Riggio Dreiser-Mencken Letters I (1986) 107: I am glad you are considering a good offer but please be sure it won’t ‘bust-up’ after you have severed important connections elsewhere.
1927		E. Hemingway letter 14 Sept. in Baker Sel. Letters (1981) 257: I have nothing but love admiration and respect for Hadley and while we are busted up I have not in any way lost Bumby. He lived with me in Switzerland after the divorce.
1937		J. Tully Bruiser 55: I think we’d better bust up.
1941		J.M. Cain Mildred Pierce (1985) 342: You mean you’ve busted up?
1956		L. Hughes Simply Heavenly I iii: I told Isabel when we busted up that she had shared my bed, my board [...] but I did not want to share another thing with her from that day to this, not even a divorce.
1962		S. Paige Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever 153: I can’t remember having seen her since we busted up back in 1939.
1980		(con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘Detrot Redhead’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 105: She had just busted with Knuckles [...] one of the local pimps.
1986		R. Campbell In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 173: They stared at each other, old friends almost about to get busted up because of a woman.
1992		B. Gifford Night People 131: They had busted up right after her recent abortion.

3. to conclude, e.g. an evening out or a party.

1927		H.C. Witwer Classics in Sl. 58: This busted up the party and the shriekin’ Mac is carried away, one of the first and most famous victims of the D.T.’s.
1930		W.R. Burnett Iron Man 221: Coke took out a cigar and gave it to the waiter. ‘I’ll see you when we bust up.’.
1945		A. Kober Parm Me 144: Before we bust up [...] I just wanna express the thanks I know Kitty Shapiro is gonna feel towards you members.
1958		R. Prather Scrambled Yeggs 75: He was in every hand all night. Right up to about one, Thursday a.m. That’s when the game finally busted up.

4. (US) to make someone else laugh.

1989		P. Munro Sl. U. 51: bust up [...] to make (someone) laugh.
2002		J. Ridley Conversation with the Mann 59: I could tell jokes, though. That I could do. I would bust up the boys with some bits I heard from comics on Toast of the Town.

5. see bust v.¹

6. see bust v.¹ (4c)