bust v.1
1. to invade, lit. or fig.
(a) (also burst, bus’em up, bust into, bust up) to intrude, to break into; thus bursting/busting n.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | ‘A London Ken-cracking Song’ in Confessions of Thomas Mount 20: And when his Peter we did burst, / His golden chain I hobbled first. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Satirist (London) 24 July 125/3: My second by cracksmen so gay, / Very often is sure to be burst. | |
| Vocabulum 16: bust. To enter forcibly. | |
| Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 10/1: We looked around for some time before we had an opportunity of trying what the ‘screws’ could do at the front, and finding that it would be no ‘bottle’ there without ‘bursting’ it, we gave up the notion of an entrance that way. | |
| Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 26 Oct. n.p.: Robinson, the ‘cracksman, who got a ‘brace of stretches’ for bursting a ‘crib’ in George street. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Term of His Natural Life (1897) 213: They broke locks, and burst doors, and ‘neddied’ constables. | |
| Reminiscences 88: That very popular method of ‘bank-bursting,’ which consists of renting a room [...] and then, if possible, tunneling through into the vaults. | |
| (con. c.1840) Huckleberry Finn 31: It wasn’t anything but a Sunday-school picnic [...] We busted it up and chased the children up the hollow. | |
| Sketch (London) 22 Feb. 18: ‘I didn’t have the togs fer ter bust er house with, ’cause yer can’t carry around a lot of “relievers” (that’s jimmies an’ bars an’ false keys)’. | |
| Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 365: It ain’t right to go bustin’ into people’s packs. | |
| Brand Blotters (1912) 65: If he busts the box, he’s got to carry it on a horse. | |
| Pleasant Jim 281: Busted open another bank? | |
| (con. 1920s) Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 515: If he could have busted into something big that way, he’d be much better off to-day. | |
| Thieves Like Us (1999) 44: Doing a couple of years for busting a two-bit grocery. | |
| No Hiding Place! 192/1: Busting a Joint. House-breaking. | |
| I, Mobster 14: This Calicci and a couple of other guys had busted into a cigarette warehouse. | |
| Thief’s Primer 70: We was stealing every night, man; we was busting safes every night. | |
| Gonif 6: I must have busted four hunded boxes and lifted more than a million. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Big Huey 62: He’d been nicked for busting chemist shops. | |
| Central Sl. 13: bus’em up To steal a car. ‘We all gettin’ ready to go out an bus’em up.’. | |
| Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Bust. 1. Break and enter. As in to ‘do a bust’. | |
| Hooky Gear 16: All cushty on the front line except a car window bustin in some distance off. | |
| Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 35/1: bust red hot to catch a person in the act of committing a crime. |
(b) to raid, to arrest.
| Prison, Camp and Pulpit 136: I got 400 hoodlums together and organized them into a school [...] and then the gang announced that they were going to come over and ‘bust’ me. | |
| Diamonds Are Forever (1958) 163: Then the place got busted by the gangs. | |
| ‘Dance of the Infidelsin Lover Man 158: ‘Ain’t much shaking. The Man done put the finger on the kats and everybody’s layin’ low. My boy got busted’. | |
| Delinquency and Opportunity in Yablonsky (1962) 182: Others who cannot graduate beyond ‘heisting’ candy stores or ‘busting’ gas stations. | |
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | Buttons 52: Harley Pete and the Road Rats busted the cafe. | |
| Doing Time 187: busted: to be raided or searched or arrested by the police; for example, ‘he was busted for drugs’. | |
| (con. 1982–6) Cocaine Kids (1990) 33: If one of my people say they got busted I wanna read it in the papers. If it ain’t in the papers somebody’s gonna get hurt. | |
| Mud Crab Boogie (2013) [ebook] Nizegy had just got busted. | |
 | Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 bust [...] 2. to break up, arrest. (‘The cops busted the party.’ ‘He got busted for drugs.’). | |
| Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 35/1: bust v. 1 to catch or to arrest a criminal, usually in the act of committing a crime bust red hot to catch a person in the act of committing a crime. | |
| Turning Angel 107: Did you bust the party? | |
| Cherry Pie [ebook] ‘Got busted knocking off a factory‘. | |
| Life 187: Redlands [...] the house where we were busted. | |
| Peace 26: The cop had busted her more times than she could count. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Young Team 3: Our area is jumpin wae polis, aw lookin tae bust yi. | |
| Riker’s 19: [T]ooling around the Upper West Side, ready to bust a bicyclist for any minor violation. |
(c) as sense 1b but of those without formal authority, e.g. a club doorman.
| Hard Bounce [ebook] I’d tossed him out of The Cellar [i.e. a club] after I busted him lighting a hash pipe. |
(d) see blockbust v.
2. to cause trouble for.
(a) (US, also bust up on) to cause to go bankrupt, to ruin.
| Democratic Press (Ravenna, OH) 27 May 1/3: ‘Let’s raise the ante to twenty dollars,’ said Sparks [...] ‘Jingo! it’s too much! You’ll bust me!’ exclaimed Brown. | |
| ‘Chiquita’ in Poems 54: Did you know Briggs of Tuolumne? / Busted hisself in White Pine, and blew out his brains down in ’Frisco? | |
| (con. c.1840) Huckleberry Finn (2001) 215: It most busted them, but they made up the six thousand clean and clear. | |
| ‘The War-Cry’ Dagonet Ditties 142: French rolls they have ‘bust’ the baker. | |
| Sporting Times 7 Jan. 1/3: I’m straight as any arrow, and my bank you cannot bust. | |
| ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 25: bust, v.t. To cause to fail. | |
| Potash And Perlmutter 22: He looked like his best customer had busted up on him. | |
| diary 4 Apr. in One Man’s War (1928) 68: Gee, things sure broke pretty for me. I busted them all – 2300 francs. | |
| Shearer’s Colt 179: He was bustin’ himself bettin’, and I pulled ’im out of it. | |
| Viper 47: ‘This viper’s looking for some loot, Wallace. Any ideas?’ [...] ‘The charge is busting me’. | |
| Fowlers End (2001) 199: If your uncle got wind he’d bust the issue? | |
| (con. c.1920) My Grandmothers and I (1987) 104: Sometimes a haughty one, sneering over her notebook, would say in a loud voice: ‘You don’t want to bust yourself do you?’. | |
| letter 18 Apr. in Proud Highway (1997) 508: Unless De Gaulle manages to bust the Dollar sometime soon. | |
| (con. 1950s) Whoreson 104: My plans for busting him began to dim. | |
| The Barracks Thief 91: If the clerk had busted him at poker, or if someone in his family was sick [etc]. |
(b) (also burst) to inform against.
| Leeds Mercury 4 Apr. 7/5: [Tipperary Assizes, Ireland] Well, my fine boy, whenl did you turn informer? [...] When did yout split, or burst as they say in the Terry slang — when did you stag? | |
| Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 14: bust, or burst, to tell tales [...] to inform. | |
| , , | | Sl. Dict. [as cit. 1859]. |
| Aus. Sl. Dict. 13: Burst, to inform. | |
| (con. 1960s) Black Gangster (1991) 284: He’s the only person who could bust us. | |
| Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 286: They could bust you pronto to the Spanish authorities. | |
| The Force [ebook] And anyway, who’s going to bust him? A lot of people [...] These days, every cop’s got a bull’s-eye on his back. |
(c) to reduce in rank, to demote; occas. to expel completely.
| Tales of the Ex-Tanks 104: Jack Fahey [...] had been busted from post Sergeant-Major. | |
| Denton (MD) Journal 24 Oct. 1/7: Slang of the Sailor When a man is disrated to a lower rating he is ‘busted’. | |
| Treat ’Em Rough 81: He got called up before his captain and he busted him and I don’t mean he cracked him in the jaw but when a man gets busted in the army it means you get reduced to a private. | |
| Manhattan Transfer 298: I got to be a sergeant overseas till they busted me for going A.W.O.L. | |
| (con. 1918) Top Kick 10: ‘If you wanted to get busted, why didn’t you resign?’ ‘I didn’t want to get busted. I wanted to get promoted.’. | |
| Honest Cop 17: It was the subject of hushed conversations in a hundred station houses [...] that epic fall of the crusading Deputy Chief Inspector [...] ‘[Police Commissioner] Whalen busted him just as far as the civil service regulations would let him,’ the old-timers told the recruits. | |
| 22 Dec. in A Flying Tiger’s Diary (1984) 64: I heard that Sandy ‘busted’ Frank from being operations officer for being late with his dawn patrol flight. | |
| From Here to Eternity (1998) 794: You see, Galovitch aint the platoon guide of the 2nd Platoon any more. Galovitch is been busted. | |
| Plunder (2005) 231: He had become an officer and had been busted. | |
| City of Night 162: I just got busted out of — the Marines. | |
| Thief’s Primer 68: The chief lost his job on account of it. He testified at my trial and they busted him to a patrolman. | |
| All Bull 179: There was one rumour about a colleague of Strychnine’s buggering a cook, or was it a NAAFI orderly, and getting busted. | |
| You Flash Bastard 12: The luckless and careless CID alike went back into uniform or were busted out. [Ibid.] 188: That was something Sneed could drop from a great height on the DS, and it would certainly get him busted out. | |
| Killing Time 179: He had been busted from do-pop to a rank man. | |
| (con. 1964–73) Bloods (1985) 18: He ended up giving me an Article 15 for disrespect. And I got busted one rank and fined $25. | |
| (con. 1969) Suicide Charlie 50: He was an E-7 with twenty-six years in service who’d been busted in rank stateside more than once for chickenshit infractions. | |
| Deathdeal [ebook] ‘They’ll laugh in my face. I’d be busted back to uniform duty’. | |
| Black Tide (2012) [ebook] According to these heroes, Gary was consorting with some very bad people, should have been busted much earlier. |
(d) (also bust out at) to arrest, esp. on a drugs charge.
| Current Hist. and Forum 7 Nov. 22: The inmates describe [...] how they got busted out at [sic] (arrested) [HDAS]. | |
| Really the Blues 66: The police chief was too busy mixing drinks to bust himself under the prohibition act. | |
| Junkie (1966) 121: Lupita calls one of her friends on the narcotics squad and the pusher is busted. | |
| Breaking of Bumbo (1961) 138: We’re busting Sarnt Issy as it is, for whipping more of the stores. | |
| Big Rumble 34: I was Big Tony’s bam. Yeah, before he was busted by the fuzz I was his deb. | |
| Spook who Sat by the Door (1972) 79: The guards are the safest pushers in the city — ‘they can’t bust you in the slam’. | |
| Street Players 43: We don’t want any trouble...if she gets busted. | |
| Choirboys (1976) 44: You bust a good felony and you tell him to throw up his hands. | |
| E. Runnin’ Down Some Lines 22: Got busted ’cause I lef’ home without d’ permission of my parole officer. | |
| G’DAY 25: A pig is one of the boys in blue and busts you for speeding. | |
| Wizard of La-La Land (1999) 224: What was I supposed to do, bust him or bend over? | |
| Curvy Lovebox 45: How’m I gonna tell everyone I got busted for two quid an’ a cornetto? | |
| Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 busted Definition: 1. getting arrested by the fuzz. | |
| Right As Rain 231: You can bust these kids, see, and you can bust the users, but so what? | |
| Rubdown [ebook] Sean would have busted the lot of them. |
(e) (US teen) to tease.
| Long Beach Press-Telegram 14 Dec. 8: Don’t bust me means quit kidding. |
(f) (US) to catch someone or something out, to uncover.
| , | | DAS. |
| Underground Dict. (1972). | |
| Grand Central Winter (1999) 48: Our sleeping niche under the stairs had long ago been busted. | |
| Skinny Dip 205: I thought Joey had busted me [...] I thought she’d figured out the water scam. | |
| ‘Grassed’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] Sharni had busted her and it turned into a full on scrag fight. |
(g) of a college professor, to fail a student.
| Been Down So Long 51: They can’t bust you, Heff. |
(h) to discipline, e.g. at work.
| Animal Factory 36: I could bust the whole fuckin’ mob of you [...] Every day the [guard] captain gets a dozen snitch letters about those maniacs. | |
| Rivethead (1992) 188: When Jehan was finally busted, Henry sent him down to our area away from any stop buttons. |
(i) (US) to get the better of, to ‘put one over on’.
| ‘some men are just funny that way’ in What They Found 79: ‘[T]hen the crowd starts getting in on the action because I’m a woman. They’re saying things like, “Yo, she’s busting you guys!”’. |
(j) see bust out v.5 (1)
3. to go on a spree; thus busting n.
| Charcoal Sketches (1865) 176: For my part, I think this bustin’ of yourn looks bad, [...] ’specially when you’re goin’ it on crab-apple cider. | |
| N.O. Picayune 14 Feb. n.p.: Because I was a good-natured fellow, I had to go with them, rollicking, teapartying, excursioning, and busting generally. |
4. to suffer a lit. or fig. ‘break-down’.
(a) (US campus) to fail an examination.
| ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 25: bust, v.i. To fail in recitation or examination. | |
| ‘College Sl. Words And Phrases’ in DN IV:iii 232: bust, v. To fail in an examination. | |
| ‘University of Missouri Sl.’ in AS VI:3 203: bust a course: fail to pass a course of study. [...] bust a quiz: fail to pass an examination. | |
| ‘Citadel Gloss.’ in AS XIV:1 Feb. 25/2: bust, v. To fail in. | |
| ‘An Aggie Vocab. of Sl.’ in AS XXI:1 31: bust, vit. [...] (2) To fail a course. | |
| ‘Gator Sl.’ AS XXXIV:2 156: To make a perfect score on a test is to [...] bust it; however, bust may also mean to fail. | |
| , | | DAS. |
| Campus Sl. Mar. 1: bust – make an error. | |
| Campus Sl. Sept. 1: bust – fail. |
(b) (Aus.) to fail at, to blunder.
| Bulletin (Sydney) 1 May 5/1: Garnet Walch and A. P. Martin tried to start a paper of fashion, called the Empire [...] They ‘busted’ on the fashion plates, Neither of' them know a jersey from an Ulster overcoat. |
(c) (orig. US, also burst, burst up, bust up) to come to (financial) ruin, to go bankrupt.
| Exposé of Gaming 10: Two persons who had bursted were sitting vis a vis by the fire-place [DA]. | |
| Charcoal Sketches (1865) 68: The goods had gone out on a bust long before I busted. | |
| Blackwood’s Mag. Apr. 498: Simple persons who have been smarter or earlier in the field of fortune will burst up some fine morning, and leave the road open to others. | |
| Canton Chinese 114: Since my return from China the revulsions of trade have overtaken him, and always inflated, he has finally ‘busted’. | |
| Dan Marble 34: The old Chatham company ‘busted up,’ the treasury caved in, and the doors were closed. | |
| Artemus Ward, His Book 53: Banks are bustin every day, goin up higher nor any balloon of which we hav any record. | |
| Sportsman 5 Mar. 2/2: Notes on News [...] G. F. Train has ‘bust up’ at lust. After going up ‘like rocket, has come down like stick.’. | |
| Saratoga in 1901 208: ‘I’m afraid our “singing business” is going to “bust up”’. | |
| Golden Butterfly II 224: I hold twenty thousand shares. If I sell out, that company will bust up. | |
| Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 30 Oct. 7/3: The famous Ladies’ Bank of Boston [...] has at last ‘busted’. | |
| Colonial Reformer III 149: They believe that [...] the whole thing will ‘bust up’ directly. | |
| Truth (Sydney) 3 June 1/6: ‘If I rest I rust,’ is a German proverb. ‘If I trust I bust,’ is the tradesman’s version. | |
| Truth (Sydney) 20 Jan. 2/4: A certain show suddenly ‘bust up’ last one day week. The gifted author-manahgwer offered the professional ladies of the compnay promissory notes [...] in full payment of their services. | |
| Maison De Shine 2: It ain’t no wonder that hotels is bustin’ every day. | |
| Carry on, Jeeves 223: ‘I shouldn’t have thought you would have been able to get away from the paper,’ I said. ‘I say,’ I went on, struck by a pleasing idea. ‘It hasn’t bust up, has it?’. | |
| ‘The Snatching of Bookie Bob’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 116: The stockmarket going all to pieces, and the banks busting. | |
| Skyvers III i: Once upon a time, ’e ’ad a business. Then ’is business bust. |
5. to attack physically.
(a) (also burst) to kill, to murder.
| Roughing It 27: Here I’ve sot, and sot, and sot, a-bustin’ musketeers [i.e. mosquitoes]. | |
| in Living London (1883) Mar. 77: [orig. in the San Francisco News Letter] My love fell out of a tree, / And busted herself on a cruel rock; / A solemn sight to see. | |
| Keys to Crookdom 412: Murder. Kill, bump off, slough, croak, bust. | |
| Mad mag. May-June 20: My life were better busted by their noise. | |
| letter 19 Oct. in Proud Highway (1997) 356: I have also bought a small pistol and carry it like Sam Spade, ready at all times to bust the bastards. | |
| Central Sl. 13: bustin’ To do a drive-by shooting. | |
| Dirty South 59: Red Eyes has been burst. Stabbed over forty times. | |
| ‘No Hook’ 🎵 Clock me an opp wind down the window / Back out the spinner and burst him. |
(b) (also burst, bust up) to hit.
| N.E. Police Gaz. (Boston, MA) 12 Oct. 8/4: A young man ‘busted’ him in the nose . | |
| ‘Breitmann at a Picnic’ in Hans Breitmann in Europe 283: Dey bust und bang der bar-room ein, / Und call for a buckt of branntewein. | |
| Gabriel Conroy I 109: I’ll jest bust that boy if I see him round yer agin. | |
| (con. c.1840) Huckleberry Finn (2001) 97: I’d take en bust him over de head — dat is, if he warn’t white. | |
| Artie (1963) 22: [He] ‘busted’ the fifteen balls with a fierce stroke. | |
| Dumont’s Joke Book 80: Say, Fitzsimmons, come up here and bust this feller in de snoot. | |
| Truth (Sydney) 26 Mar. 12/3: If a feller do get busted / When he's out, sir, after dark, / He do say he were assaulted / By some ruffians In the park. | |
| You Know Me Al (1984) 43: Some day he will lose his temper and bust you one. | |
| ‘Tom, Dick, or Harry’ in Nightmare Town (2001) 240: In plain American he busted me in the nose and left me where I fell. | |
| Don’t Get Me Wrong (1956) 16: He busts me a straight one on the puss. | |
| Mistral Hotel (1951) 231: Bust him one on the snoot! | |
| Little Men, Big World 19: What humpty-dumpties! [...] This big hitter they got—I saw him bust one up against the fence in the far right corner and only get a single. | |
| Hell’s Angels (1967) 105: In any active bar you can hear a story about a bartender who ‘busted up a guy who tried to pull some karate stuff’. | |
| Cutter and Bone (2001) 295: He thanked the deputy for the lift and told him not to brood about busting his head the way he had. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | (con. 1930s) Emerald Square 141: I’ll burst him if she or the others hit me again. | |
| (con. 1979–80) Brixton Rock (2004) 10: Someone told me you bust up Terry Flynn. | |
| Robbers (2001) 58: Busted him in the balls. | |
| Adventures 231: [N]obody I knew saw their dad bust up their mom with a frying pan. | |
| Corruption Officer [ebk] cap. 8: But hey, would you rather get bus’ upside yo’ head with no protection? | |
| Bloody January 82: ‘[Y]ou do anything like that again and I swear I’ll bust you’. |
(c) to fight.
| Life In Sing Sing 258: Busting the bulls at the big show. Fighting with the police at the circus. | |
| Buttons 32: We weren’t going to bust them. | |
| Dict. of the Teenage Revolution 32: Bust. [...] To fight. |
(d) (also bust down) to defeat.
| ‘Gambling Man’ lyrics] Ain’t no use of me playing, bad luck is on my hands; / Because the best of gamblers, mama, get busted down sometimes. | |
| Wide Boys Never Work (1938) 207: Win or bust – what the hell was there to it, otherwise? Win or bust. Fine. | |
| Rock 57: You should have taken Lubo on and busted him down. |
(e) to rape, to deflower (forcibly); also homosexual use.
| in Erotic Muse (1992) 73: With ’em came a complement of rapists of renown. / They busted every maidenhead that come within their spell, / But they never made the waitress from the Prince George Hotel. | |
| in Erotic Muse (1992) 38: He laid her down on a downy bed, / And busted in her maidenhead. | |
| Sex in Prison 93: That’s what makes me mad – when some freak tries to bust a young boy. | |
| (con. 1940s–60s) ‘Bell-bottom Trousers’ in More Snatches and Lays 66: The forty-second Army Corps came in to paint the town. [...] They busted every maidenhead, and staggered out again. | |
| Corner (1998) 117: Out in the street, he talked trash like everyone else did, telling himelf and everyone else he was gonna bust the bitch. |
(f) (US) to shoot.
| Mr Majestyk 38: ‘Sees Renda get out of his car, walk up to the man and bust him five times with a thirty-eight’. |
6. (orig. US) to go very fast; thus bust along, bust it, bust off.
| Big Bear of Arkansas (1847) 131: ‘Massa Chunkey is risin’,’ said Sol, and then he busted. | |
| ‘Negro English’ in Anglia VII 261: To bus’ orf or off = to run away quickly. | |
| ‘My Sally’ in (1902) cxx: My pony-trap, yes, it’s a flyer. / As we busted last Sunday through Bow. | |
| Wash. Post 10 Dec. 4/4: He rips him with his chive and busts. | |
| Valley of the Moon (1914) 31: The boy’s a streak [...] He ain’t tryin’ his hardest, an’ Red-head’s just bustin’ himself. | |
| Fighting Blood 161: I didn’t like the party anyways, and would of busted away during the first five minutes if Judy hadn’t of been there. | |
| Bastard (1963) 65: Flo was a damn nice kid. I wish she hadn’t gone and busted off like she did. | |
| ‘Blood Pressure’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 82: I wish to get where I am going all in one piece, but the guy only keeps busting along. | |
| Mules and Men (1995) 107: Brer Rabbit come bustin’ cross de marsh. | |
| High Sierra in Four Novels (1984) 388: Two deputies jumped in a car and come busting down the mountain. | |
| Close Quarters (1987) 21: That kid bustin’ jungle in the lead tank was busting some bad jungle too. | |
| Paco’s Story (1987) 5: Folks do not want to hear about Alpha Company — us grunts — busting jungle and busting cherries. | |
| Rivethead (1992) 132: The steering gear man never asked about this nor anything else, he just kept bustin’ it. | |
| Hope College ‘Dict. of New Terms’ 🌐 bust v.tr. To hurry. [...] ‘I have to bust if I am going to have this assignment done on time.’. | |
| Handbook for Boys 160: [W]hen I got out I busted on up to her crib. | |
| Cruisers: Oh, Snap! 87: ‘[T]hen we can just all bust down to the police station with Kambui and fess up’. |
7. to ‘explode’ physically.
(a) (also burst, bust up) to explode with any form of pent-up emotion, e.g. laughter or rage.
| Hist. of the Two Orphans III 203: Heartley bit his lips, Richmond was ready to burst, which Trillmore prevented, by giving vent to his own confined laughter. | |
| Clockmaker III 51: He was jist ready to bust, and make all fly agin with rage. | |
| Tales of College Life 24: ‘Don’t bust yourself!’ ‘You’ll split yer veskit, guv’nor!’. | |
| No. 5 John Street 68: Wish I may die, if I’d larf; and if I didn’t, I should have to bust. | |
| (ref. to 1878) Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 57/2: Bust (Street, 1878). Burst, or explode with rage, and so join the majority. | |
| ‘The ‘Look-See’’ in Naval Occasions 121: ‘That’s enough – no more in this boat – it’s not safe! Please stand back, it’s – oh, d……!’ [...] ‘Orl right, my son, don’t bust yerself.’. | |
| ‘When Bob Got Throwed’ in Songs of the Cattle Trail 53: That time when Bob got throwed / I thought I sure would bust. / I like to died a-laffin’ . | |
| Plastic Age 46: For a moment I thought my head was going to bust. | |
| Lay My Burden Down 210: I been busting I was so mad. | |
| letter 1 Apr. in Charters I (1995) 50: I’m just about ready to bust. I’m that worried [...] I’m frantic. |
(b) (orig. US, also bust up) to break down in laughter.
| Bottom Dogs 135: At this the two coons almost busted. | |
| Blue Knight 185: He starts chuckling, then pretty soon he busts up. | |
| Sl. U. 51: bust up 1. to laugh. | |
| It Was An Accident 76: Rameez was busting himself likely to come out his stitches, seemed it made a great improvement in his condition clocking me in pain. | |
| Straight Dope [ebook] [H]e busts a laugh just for punctuation,. |
(c) (US black) to ejaculate, esp. prematurely.
| Current Sl. III:3 4: Bust, v. To ejaculate prematurely or unsatisfactorily. | |
| Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 snowballer Definition: bitch be suckin and you bust in her mouth then she be tryin to kiss ya Example: Last night that bitch tried snowballin on me, so I slap tha bitch. | |
| ‘Skengs’ 🎵 Big back she can ride on my cock, she tellin' me that she ain't done squats / I bust 2 times at my dots, left her slumped in her bed then I'm off. | |
| What They Was 111: I pull out and buss all over her mum’s living room floor. |
(d) (US black) to reprimand aggressively; to attack verbally.
| Third Ear n.p.: bustv. […] 2. to tell someone off; to speak one’s mind. | |
| This Is How You Lose Her 167: Paloma doesn’t stop busting. They say Mr Everson likes to put on dresses. |
8. a euph. for to hell with...! under hell n.
| Little Ragamuffin 237: I’ll give him the lot, bust him! [...] Hang you! cuss you! bust you! | |
| Unsentimental Journeys 207: ‘Haloo, here’s Dick! Found your dawg, Dick?’ ‘Bust him, no!’. | |
| ‘’Arry on Angling’ in Punch 30 July 45/2: Jack ’as cut me since then at the ‘Primrose Club,’ bust ’im! I don’t care a toss. | |
| Such is Life 133: I begun to think you was drunk, or dead, or somethin’—bust you. | |
| Marvel III:54 8: Bust the bother! | |
| Gem 23 Jan. 2: Bu’st your dorg! | |
| Cockney At Home 63: Why don’t yer keep still [...] an’ let me walk round yer, bust yer? | |
| ‘The Reformed Pub’ Sporting Times 17 July 1/3: ‘Bust reformers,’ growled the man who talked till ‘time’ was shouted. |
9. (also bust up) an all-purpose term, to happen, to do (esp. skillfully).
| Lights & Shadows 483: ‘I think ther’s somthen goen to bust now.’ Porgie’s friend had a keen scent for sensation [in a play]. | |
| Liza of Lambeth (1966) 4: Come on Florrie, you and me ain’t shy; we’ll begin, and bust it. The two girls took hold of one another [...] and they began to waltz. | |
| Dogged Victims 30: It is asking a lot, I know, to expect anyone to believe that you can bust a drive about 250 yards on a 339-yard hole. | |
| Queens’ Vernacular 39: bust some suds to drink beer. | |
| Monster (1994) 50: At the first driveway, bust a U-turn. | |
| Sl. Gloss. 🌐 bust: to do something (hanging out, relaxing, check something out). | |
| Teen Lingo: The Source for Youth Ministry 🌐 bustin’ v. (derived from ‘busting’) executing an action, usually flawlessly, that takes skill. ‘Check out Dominic. He’s bustin’ some phatty moves!’. | |
| Game 57: I didn’t want to bust a grin on my man. | |
| On the Bro’d 43: ‘What’s shaking in Denver? I mean what the fuck are you busting up?’. | |
| What They Was 87: Usher [...] singing a love song to her, bussin out the dance movesl. | |
| Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 247: I started to bust some logic. |
10. (Aus., also bust up) to waste money, usu. on drink.
| W.A. Sun. Times (Perth) 1 Dec. 1/1: ‘John’ promptly appropriated the £10 given to the girl to ‘get’ with [and] he is now ‘busting up’ the tenner under ‘Form J’. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Oct. 12/3: The very next case concerned the misdemeanors of Lily May Matthews, who, immediately after marriage, began to neglect her household duties and bust up her hubby’s earnings in riotous living. | |
| ‘Cow’ in Backblock Ballads 37: An’ the many ways I’ve busted money, when I should er trusted / It ter cattle an’ erconomy. | |
| Narromine News (NSW) 25 Oct. 9/5: Sing a song o’ three ‘browns,’ / Think of what it means, / ‘Busted up’ on ice creams / Or on limousines. | |
| Keep The Aspidistra Flying (1962) 168: He’d spend every penny he had if he felt like it. Ten whole quid to bust! | |
| Capricornia (1939) 129: Bust the lot. Get Oscar to do the buying so’s not to arouse suspicion that we’re off. | |
| Black Billy Tea 58: Chasing sheep up and down the ruddy hills, / To bust one cheque a year / On racehorses and beer. |
11. to surpass, e.g. a record.
| Wildcat 38: The Wildcat busted his previous records for long-distance sleep. |
12. (US black) to alter a natural crinkly black head of hair into a straight process n. (1) style.
| House of Fury (1959) 20: Bluebell’s hair glowed like ebony; it was straight and soft, the envy of all the girls, for she never had to grease or ‘bust’ it. |
13. to ‘break’, as in journalistic stories.
| Scrambled Yeggs 33: Man, what a story. If I could bust something like that, they’d give me the paper. |
14. to do well, esp. in a school/college test, to receive a good grade, e.g. he busted an A in Math.
| ‘Gator Sl.’ AS XXXIV:2 156: To make a perfect score on a test is to [...] bust it. | |
| Hoops 87: There was a little three-on-three action going down, and I [...] busted the first game I played. [...] Everything I threw up dropped in . | |
| Campus Sl. Apr. 2: bust a test – to do well on a test. | |
| Da Bomb 🌐 5: Busting fat: Doing something very well. |
15. to solve a crime.
| Suicide Hill 97: If we don't bust this thing [a bank robbery] in a week or so, I'll plant a man in the bank. |
16. (UK black) to launch, e.g. a new song or artist.
| (con. 1981) East of Acre Lane 177: I’m gonnas bus’ de lyrics maybe nex’ week inna Crucial Rocker blues. | |
| on 1Xtra [BBC radio] Busting new talent. That’s what we’ve been doing from day dot. |
17. (rap music) to pay attention, to notice, to listen to, to enjoy.
| Street Talk 2 48: Bust this tune! | |
| Rap Dict. 🌐 bust this (interj) Pay attention. – ‘But bust this!’ – Ice-T (Bitches 2 [1991]). |
18. (US campus) to fall down.
| Campus Sl. Oct. |
19. (US black) to be worthy of respect.
| ‘Kingofdasouth’ 🎵 It's only five rappers outta Atlanta who bustin’ and I’m one of ’em. |
20. see bust up v. (2)
In phrases
see also under relevant n. or adj.
to lose one’s temper, to lose emotional control.
| Hamilton Co. Ledger (Noblesville, IN) 22 Mar. 1/4: [cartoon caption] The cabby ’e flopped darn that there quick ’e nearly bust a blood vessel. | |
| Outlook LXXII 92/2: ‘Well, Solon,’ says I, when I walked away, ‘look out ye don’t bust a blood-vessel.’. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Dec. 14/1: Then he reined in, and addressed Locket with a burst of profanity that is now classic in droving circles. Daddy Locket, who had recovered his natural impudence, pushed his fuzzy head through the fence. ‘There, there!’ he said, ‘don’t bust an artery. I wouldn’t ’ave hurt yer old cow.’. | |
| Sun (Kalgoorlie) 25 June 4/7: ‘Strike me upside down,’ he howled. ‘I muster burst a blood vessel.’. | |
| (con. 1910s) Heed the Thunder (1994) 278: Josephine hollered at her not to bust a blood vessel. | |
| (con. 1943–5) To Hell and Back (1950) 76: Okay, okay. [...] Don’t bust a blood vessel. | |
| Gasteropod 147: Don’t bust a blood vessel, Jamie. [...] It’s not as though we’re going to encroach, is it? | |
| Dark 211: Don’t bust a blood vessel. We’ll go question the guy, see where he was the night of Landry’s death. | |
| Scattered Leaves 232: Okay, don’t bust a blood vessel. I won’t read them. I’m sure they would be boring anyway. |
1. (US gay) to have aggressive, fast anal intercourse.
| Queens’ Vernacular 89: to fuck hard and fast [...] bust a cap in an ass. |
2. see under cap n.2
3. see under cap n.4
(UK black) to fire a gun.
| ‘Cockney Translation’ 🎵 Say cockney fire shooter. We bus’ gun. | |
| ‘Bring Me Down (Intro)’ 🎵 You’re fucking with some street gents / That’ll cock it and buss it if you pretend. | |
| What They Was 20: They spit rap and grime bars about bussin guns and murking man . | |
| What They Was 59: He doesn’t really live the life he spits [...] wetting up man and bussin straps . |
see jump v. (4e)
(US drugs) to inhale a measure of a powdered drug.
| Whiplash River [ebook] Devane would bust a few rails, find a comfy seat in the theater, and watch the show. |
see bust rhymes
1. (US) to fight with, to attack.
| Amboy Dukes 161: Watch what you’re saying, or I’ll start busting you around. |
2. to arrive, to appear.
| Dames Don’t Care (1960) 13: There’s all sorts of janes bust around here. | |
| ‘Johnny Slice’s Stoolie’ in Deadly Streets (1983) 83: I was sore as hell come busting around at two in the morning. | |
| Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever 45: I was busting around in a flashy roadster that could really scoot. |
(US black) to shoot someone.
| ‘Return’ 🎵 Money tight glock, bustin them shots. | |
| in Vice Mag. at Hyperdub.com 🌐 ‘Bust a shot’ can mean to shoot someone, but generally these days it means drug dealing. | |
| No Lights, No Sirens 60: [N]o street thug can feel that it is ‘kool and the gang’ to bust a shot at any one of us. |
see separate entries.
1. (US) to enter, with overtones of speed, aggressiveness.
| ‘The Golden Dustman’ 🎵 Like two burglars in we bust. | |
| ‘Daffydills’ in El Paso Herald (TX) 7 Sept. 10: Rehearsing his spiel a few times he busted in and slipped the boss an earful. | |
| ‘Charlie the Wolf’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 63: He busts into a flat, wakes up the police a mile away, sends in a riot call with every footstep, an’ comes down the porch pillar into the arms of police. | |
| Walls Of Jericho 7: I don’t think no shine’s got no business bustin’ into no fay neighborhood. | |
| ‘Sailors’ Grudge’ Fight Stories Mar. 🌐 We craves to bust into the movies. | |
| (con. 1920s) Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 378: The kind of a guy who could bust right into any kind of a joint, no matter how swell it was, and act like he belonged there. | |
| Really the Blues 61: When I busted in I came face to face with Jellyroll Morton, the composer of many a jazz classic. | |
| USA Confidential 276: She was ginned up when the firemen busted in and she told them to get the hell out of her boudoir. | |
| Shake Him Till He Rattles (1964) 106: That’s Angel’s alarm system [...] If the heat ever busts in here, he’ll have plenty of warning. | |
| Shaft 45: The law came busting through the door. | |
| Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 36: So he busts in and says, ‘Okay, where is she?’. | |
| Hot House 43: [T]wo dudes busted in on this guy in the cell next to mine and stuck him twenty-six times with shanks. | |
| ‘the real deal’ in What They Found 167: Mavis Brown had come busting into his shop. | |
| Razorblade Tears 64: ‘You’ll probably have to bust in’. |
2. to interfere, to interrupt, to butt in.
| Hand-made Fables 92: I had no hesitancy about busting in as soon as I heard my friend Jimmy Hooper kidding her along. | |
| Black Mask Aug. III 112: ‘Why didn’t you let me go with you?’ I busted in. | |
| Dames Don’t Care (1960) 107: I reckon he ain’ so pleased with my bustin’ in like this. | |
| et al. DAUL 37/2: Bust in. [...] 2. To walk in brazenly where one is uninvited; to break in rudely upon a conversation. | |
| Shooter 123: [I]f I have any questions concerning what you say, I’ll bust in and ask them. |
3. to gatecrash a party.
| Gun in My Hand 186: Owen Williams won’t mind us busting in. |
1. (US black) to perform at one’s best.
| Slam! 178: ‘[W]hen you are doing what you love, you got to bust it. And when you do, it works’. | |
| Game 28: With high school ball you usually have one dude who can bust it and three or four dudes who can play some. |
2. (US) to ejaculate.
| ‘Let Me See It’ 🎵 Let me bust it in yo’ cheek (cheek) / Til you muthafuckin’ choke (choke). |
(US) of a man, to have sexual intercourse.
| Devil All the Time 46: ‘Shit, I’d bend that sweet little thing over, and I’d …’ ‘Ha! Bernie Hill said. ‘You ol’ dog, I bet you’ve already busted it open’. |
1. (US) to hit, to attack; as phr. bust on someone’s ass.
| ‘High Dice’ in Gentleman Junkie 92: He’s gonna bust on me any second now, I know it! | |
| Central Sl. 13: bust on your ass To fire a handgun at someone. ‘Fuck with that dude, an he’ll bust on your ass.’. | |
| Monster (1994) 19: Y’all bail, we just busted on some Families! |
2. (US) to criticize.
| ‘High Dice’ in Gentleman Junkie 88: Some joker busted on Kurt [...] telling him the eggs were greasy. | |
| Campus Sl. Mar. 2: bust on – abuse or embarrass verbally: He busted on John. | |
| Campus Sl. Apr. | |
| ‘Rev.’ 25 Nov. at TheDeftones.com 🌐 People have been busting on them because of the mellowness of their songs, but I think there [sic] an awesome band on cd and live. | |
| Dozens 79: Boy 1: That’s an expression: ‘Fuck your sister.’ Folklorist: When do you say that? Boy 1: When you’re busting on somebody . . . ‘Aw, fuck your sister’. |
3. (US black) to inform against someone.
| ‘Safe as students want it to be!’ in Stadium World Oct. on Tacoma Schools 🌐 What is the reason that a student would not say something in this circumstance? A popular reason is that a student may be afraid that their friend is going to hate them for telling or ‘busting’ on them. |
1. to work extremely hard, to put in a great effort; thus busted-ass adj., hardworking.
| Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 11 Mar. 11/1: Hi ya, Gate. I know you’re gonna bust your conk down there. | |
| Tree of Man (1956) 75: The old Hun that you have, eatun ’is head off, and bustin’ ’is pants in the shed out there. | |
| (con. WWII) Marines! 142: You’ll be the saddest busted-ass lieutenant. | |
| Felony Tank (1962) 141: Hell no! We’re going to get out and start walking while this clown busts his britches to find the nearest cop. | |
| On the Yard (2002) 80: Think of all them fools out there bustin their asses so them bitches can sit under those hair dryers. | |
| Stand On It (1979) 177: He’ll bust his ass getting there to race you. | |
| Jones Men 128: They could probably make that much [...] without bustin’ their butts getting in here. | |
| Carlito’s Way 3: They busted their ass, they went for the Dream. | |
| Close Quarters (1987) 34: The pay’s the same whether I’m out here getting laid or [...] busting my ass stripping down the seven-six. | |
| Nam (1982) 158: I’m out in the bush busting my behind trying to stay alive. | |
| Further Tales of the City (1984) 42: I busted my butt trying to be everything to one person. | |
| It (1987) 918: You’d have to really let out your stride and bust your buns. | |
| (con. 1968) Reckoning for Kings (1989) 282: There were certain [...] highly illegal comforts they had all busted their ass to get. | |
| Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 332: Black people were busting their butts to get into the system. | |
| Lockie Leonard, Legend (1998) 61: His mum was busting her buns to get the job done. | |
| Grand Central Winter (1999) 75: I ain’t bustin’ my ass for nobody. | |
| Guardian Weekend 4 Sept. 17: I’ve gotta bust my ass at the docks [...] I gotta feed my three kids. | |
| Everybody Smokes in Hell 75: She’d been busting her ass a good long while. | |
| Guardian 6 Jan. 24: If I’m going to bust my butt out there, I want a piece of it. | |
| (con. 1975–6) Steel Toes 123: Bust yer ass for two weeks and you should have these cashed out. | |
| ‘Vilja de Tanquay Exults’ in Queer Street 394: Now she’s got to work, / Buckle on them Bristol Cities [i.e. fake breasts] / [...] and bust her arse. | |
| Disassembled Man [ebook] I have to bust my ass all day to keep food on the table . | |
| Corruption Officer [ebk] cap. 54: When you’re out there hustling and busting your gun doing all types of stupid shit for these niggas it’s all good but as soon as you get knocked [...] they forget about you like you never did shit for them! | |
| Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] [B]usting your arse since 7am, carrying things and pushing wheelbarrows. |
2. (orig. US) to get injured (esp. in a car or similar crash).
| ‘The Castration of the Strawberry Roan’ in Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing (1995) 95: The corral was all muddy and slicker than glass, / I lands on a rock and I busted my ass. | |
| Hero Ship 151: ‘O.K.,’ he quavered, ‘I’ll sign it! But I hope you bust your ass!’. | |
| Brother Ray 200: [of a difficult plane landing] And that’s how we go into this last turn, still trying to figure ways to keep from busting our ass. |
see separate entries.
(rap music) to work as a rap musician, DJ or MC.
| Hammer and Vanilla Ice 14: Standin on stage and bustin’ a few rhymes. [Ibid.] 46: The crowd is dancing in the aisles and bustin’ rhymes. | |
| Street Talk 2 48: That guy can really bust a rhyme. | |
| Tuff 173: Rarely a week passed in which someone didn’t request that Winston ‘kick a verse’ or ‘bust a rhyme’. |
to fire a gun.
| ‘Right Back At You’ 🎵 on Infamous [album] Thug’s selling drug, busting slugs, but he ain’t crazy. | |
| ‘Rev. of Thug 4 God by Maine Attraction’ on Muse’s Muse 🌐 Sometimes the messages are cleverly accompanied by hard core terminology like ‘busting slugs,’ but Jermaine quickly clarifies that the only ‘slugs’ he’s busting are the rhymes he creates about the joy of finding God. |
(US) to disparage.
| ‘Tell Them Nothing’ in Tell Them Nothing (1956) 12: He ain’t busting me down, ain’t even trying. |
(US black) of a man, to have sexual intercourse with someone, to bring to orgasm.
| ‘To the Beat, Y’all’ 🎵 Guess who’s bustin out Lois Lane. | |
| ‘Freak it Out!’ 🎵 How ya makin young ladies scream and shout? / What ya do? (BUST HER OUT! BUST HER OUT!) / What ya do? (BUST HER OUT! BUST HER OUT!) / Aw man, and if she cries on the very next day / what ya do? (FREAK HER OUT! FREAK HER OUT!) / What what ya do (EAT HER OUUUUUT!). | |
| ‘Lets Get Down’ 🎵 She bout 25, and she been lookin at cha’. / Pull ova’ there in ya ride on 22’s and bust her out! |
1. (orig. US, also can someone’s ass) to beat up, to attack physically.
| World to Win 201: By Jesus, if I had the say so, I’d can his ass so fast his head ’d swim. | |
| ‘Bill and Lil’ in et al. Life (1976) 121: Ten long years of bitter regret / Won’t stop me busting your ass when I get back on the set. | |
| ‘The Skewbald Black’ in Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing (1995) 121: When I got on, he quit the ground, / He went into the air and he whirled around, / He busted my ass when I hit the ground. | |
| Sweet Ride 169: You better get out of here [...] they are going to bust your ass some. | |
| Dealer 114: ‘You see, you can take a snort of coke and you think in your mind that you’re set up well for the game. Until somebody hits you, catches you correct, really busts your buns’. | |
| (con. 1940s) Tattoo (1977) 63: Goddammit, hit him! [...] Bust his old ass. | |
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 105: A number of terms for fighting warn the opponent [...] just where he can expect a fist or knuckle to fall – [...] figuratively if not literally get in or bust one’s ass. | |
| Indep. Rev. 27 July 1: If you’re black, you know if you step out of line they’s gonna bust your ass. | |
| Running the Books 59: They [i.e. prostitutes] know how to be sweet but they will bust yo’ ass if you get out of line. |
2. (US) to harass, to nag, to annoy.
| Keepers of Truth 51: He had a wife and kid who were busting his ass over money, wanting it all. | |
| Drawing Dead [ebook] He handed me a beer first up and clinked bottles with me. Second up he starting busting my ass as best he could. |
3. (US) to arrest.
| Union Dues (1978) 152: We give her five minutes, come back here and bust her ass if she’s not gone. | |
| Glitter Dome (1982) 189: ‘You the vice squad?’ ‘We was the vice squad we’d a busted your ass a month ago, Flameout.’. | |
| Clockers 7: Soon they see anybody with that, they [...] buh-bust your ass. | |
| Chicken (2003) 162: I had a minimal panic seizure. G-men in closets. SWAT team swooping down and busting my ass. |
4. (US) to sodomize.
| ‘The Code’ in Brooklyn Noir 177: I especially enjoy she-males busting a nigga’s ass. |
5. (Aus./US) to exhaust oneself working.
| ‘Of Big Wets’ in What Do You Reckon (1997) [ebook] Those tomatoes. Some farmer’s probably busted his arse to grow those. | |
| Winter of Frankie Machine (2007) 62: Which beat the hell out of busting his ass working on the tuna boats. |
(US) to goad, to annoy someone.
| Steely Blue 326: You can bust my horns if you want to, but don’t embarrass the badge, you know. Because I’ll have to take a poke at you. |
to beat someone up, to hurt someone in a fight.
| in Living Black 128: She busted him up when he was off work. |
see bust in
see separate entries.
In exclamations
(Cockney) a mild excl.
| Marvel 15 Oct. 1: Here, bust a frog, Joe, lend me a hand. | |
| West Briton 25 Dec. 8/5: ‘Bust a frog!’ says me ’usband. |
1. an excl. of annoyance, frustration.
| Bradford Obs. 4 Nov. 4/1: It’s the most back’ard season, bust it, as ever I knowed. It was always understood that when the leaves fell off the trees the sandbags would sell, but, bust ’em, it ain’t so this ’ear. | |
| ‘’Arry on Commercial Education’ in Punch 26 Sept. in (2006) 125: Oh, bust it, dear boy, it’s too bad! | |
| Sporting Times 22 Mar. 1/2: ‘Bust it all!’ he growled; ‘second again.’. | |
| Liza of Lambeth (1966) 27: Bust it, I don’t go on the spree every day! | |
| Marvel 21 Aug. 7: ‘Bust it!’ exclaimed Billy indignantly. ‘Is this all the thanks I get for protecting you from the demon.’. | |
| Seven Poor Men of Sydney 115: Bust it! I clean forgot it. | |
| Child of Norman’s End (1967) 23: ‘Oh bust it!’ muttered Cynthia, beginning to sulk. | |
| Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 24/1: bust it! dash it!; eg ‘I almost had it that time. Oh bust it!’ NZ and Brit., early C20. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 40: bust! Exclamation, usually of disgust. Often bust it!, as my grandmother used to say when she dropped her crochet stitch and did not want to say anything stronger such as ‘Bugger it!’ From early C20. |
2. (US, also bust it up!) be quiet!
| Let Tomorrow Come 36: Bust it up, old-timer. |
a mild oath; an excl. of annoyance, frustration.
| Budget of Wit & Humour 178: I unintend to die doleful. If I don’t, bust me. | |
| (1970) Tale of Two Cities 45: Bust me if I don’t think he’d been a drinking! | |
| Tag, Rag & Co. 103: Bust me if I wouldn’t drown myself. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 4 Jul. 12/2: ‘By thunder, Jim! they goes in hot fur the pastoral interests here. Bust me, if they don’t wire fence th’ back-blocks of their wimin!’. | |
| Moran of the Lady Letty 13: Bust me, if y’ a’n’t squiffy, old man. | |
| Sporting Times 13 Jan. 1/4: ‘You think you know a bloomin’ lot, don’t yer?’ carped the feminine voice. ‘Well, bustmy, and so I ought to.’. | |
| Marvel III:58 16: ‘Bust me, guv’nor,’ he blurted. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Nov. 44/1: I sidles over to the free-lunch table an’ exercises me teeth some. When I drifts back to the bar again, bust me, if there ain’t a cove tossin’ off me pot. |
an excl. of surprise or annoyance, ext. by a pertinent n.
| New Purchase II 188: Well, bust my rifle, Carltin, if I wa’rn’t most teetotally and sentimentally wrong. | |
| Mysteries of N.Y. 19: Well, bust my bones if I didn’t drive her to twenty-three different places. | |
| Portland Guardian 5 May 4/2: Bust me bricks if she didn’t kep him fed on swagger lunches. | |
| ‘Word-List From Western Indiana’ in DN III:viii 572: bust my biler, interj. An exclamation of simple surprise. ‘Well, bust my biler! just look at him.’. | |
| Cappy Ricks 130: ‘Bust my bob-stay!’ he murmured. |
(orig. US black) now look here! pay attention!
| Campus Sl. Nov. | |
| ‘Cracked Out’ 🎵 Bust this, upstairs I got a Sony TV. | |
| Rap Dict. 🌐 bust this (interj) Pay attention. – ‘But bust this!’ – Ice-T (Bitches 2 [1991]). | |
| Portable Promised Land (ms.) 157: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Sho nuff. Bust this. Ass out. Break out. Bug out. Kick it. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
see separate entry.
1. (US) strong whisky, or gin, esp. when illegally distilled; also attrib.
| Yankee Notions 6-7 362: ‘Busthead’ whisky is Phelim's especial failing. He will try it, buy it, lie by it, lie for it, but have it he will. | |
| Down in Tennessee 175: ‘Where are you going with that big canteen?’ ‘Ter git some bust-head, giniral’. | |
| My Diary in America II 394: ‘Bust-head’ whisky, and ‘red-eye’ rum. | |
| Dict. Americanisms (4th edn) 357: Liquor [...] Bust Head. | |
| Uniontown Press 26 Mar. 3/2: The merchants must supply you with anything from a pocket saw mill to bust-head liquor [DA]. | |
| Our Southern Highlanders (1922) 137: All the moonshine whiskey used to be pure [...] but every blockader knows how to adulterate. [...] Such decoctions are known in the mountains by the expressive terms ‘pop-skull,’ ‘bust head,’ ‘bumblings’. | |
| ‘Tin Can Alley Blues’ 🎵 I was down in tin can alley, / Loaded down with that bust-head gin. | |
| Amer. Lang. (4th edn) 568: It is to those days before the Civil War that we owe many of the colorful American terms for strong drink, still current, e.g., [...] coffin-varnish, bust-head, stagger-soup, tonsil-paint, squirrel-whiskey and so on. | |
| ‘More Tennessee Expressions’ in AS XVI:1 Feb. 447/2: old bust head. Poor quality of liquor. ‘He drinks old bust head.’. | |
| North Carolina Folklore 1 524: Buss-head [...] Illicit whiskey . | |
| Walk on the Wild Side 10: Ah reckon he won’t claim me ’count of a half-pin of busthead. | |
| in DARE I 481/1: (Bad liquor) Busthead; [...] (Illegally made whiskey) Busthead. | |
| Foxfire Book 317: ‘Busthead’ and ‘popskull’ are names applied to whiskey which produces violent headaches due to various elements which have not been removed during the stilling process [DARE]. | |
| (con. 1968) Citadel (1989) 181: You fuckers grab for the $3.98 busthead and pass up all the elegant booze. |
2. (US tramp) a drunk.
| , | | DAS. |
(US) strong whisky, esp. when illegally distilled; also attrib.
| in They Who Fought Here (1959) 192: ‘Bust-Skull,’ ‘Tanglefoot,’ ‘Nockum Stiff,’ and ‘Old Red Eye’. | |
| ‘Sut Lovingood’s Hog Ride’ Nashville Daily Press and Times III Sept. in Inge (1967) 158: That wer a pint flask of swell hed whisky in wun pockit. | |
| Sut Lovingood’s Yarns 233: She fotch a glass bottil ove swell-skull whiskey outen the three-cornered cupboard. | |
| Hartford Herald (KY) 17 Mar. 3/3: He keeps no fusil oil, bust skull, sixty yards, rifle whisky, but he has the pure article. | |
| Our Southern Highlanders (1922) 137: All the moonshine whiskey used to be pure [...] but every blockader knows how to adulterate. [...] Such decoctions are known in the mountains by the expressive terms ‘pop-skull,’ ‘bust head,’ ‘bumblings’. | |
| Wilson Coll. n.p.: Bust-skull [...] Illicit, and usually, strong whiskey [DARE]. | |
| Foxfire Book 317: ‘Busthead’ and ‘popskull’ are names applied to whiskey which produces violent headaches due to various elements which have not been removed during the stilling process [DARE]. |
In phrases
see separate entry.
(US) to break down with laughter, to lose control or temper, to make a superlative effort.
| Semi-Wkly Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA) 23 Feb. 50/8: She’s [...] going to be a success or bust a gusset tring. | |
| Dly News (Huntingdon, PA) 20 June 4/3: The old timers aren’t going to like this but Fearless Friday is going to bust a gusset today if such argumentative ancients [...] keep sounding off about the ‘good old days’. | |
| Press & Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, NY) 16 Dec. 10/1: Head waiters bust a gusset when a cabinet officer comes into the joint. | |
| Tribune (Scranton, PA) 12 Apr. 11/6: When [TV] documentaries set out to prove a point they’ll bust a gusset to make it sound convincing . | |
| Tournament 🌐 Hey, guys, take it easy. You’re going to bust a gusset if you keep that up. | |
| ‘JLA/Titans Invasion’ in Fanzing 26 Sept. 🌐 ‘Robin looked like he was gonna bust a gusset, as my Dad would say,’ Superman said. |
1. to break free of constraints.
| Hereford Times 3 May 6/3: [from Amer. Humour] I know’d thar was but one chance, and that was to go clean thro’ [i.e. an obstruction of logs); so I busted loose and set my paddles to goin’ mightily . | |
| Eve. Star (DC) 17 Dec. 12/4: Police precincts of the city [...] were expected to round up a passel of wild bulls that had ‘busted loose,’ in the terms of the professional bull driver. | |
| Babbitt (1974) 58: I don’t care whether you bust loose or not. | |
| (con. 1917–18) War Bugs 193: The front was lousy with men. Every wood [...] bulged with U.S. citizens, itching to bust loose. | |
| Tobacco Road (1958) 14: Some of these days He’ll bust loose with a heap of bounty and all us poor folks will have all we want to eat. | |
| (con. 1920s) Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 772: Some day, he, Studs Lonigan, was going to bust loose like hell on wheels. | |
| Stevedore II iii: M’m! Hell sho’ gwine bust loose now. | |
| Really the Blues 141: The minute a hot jazzman busted loose, all the guys who were resting would start to clap their hands. | |
| Diamonds Are Forever (1958) 154: All hell’s going to bust loose when you get to the bottom of that old mine. | |
| Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1969) 179: They were capable of busting loose into carnage at any moment. | |
| ‘Dog Talk’ 🎵 I make plenty of juice, when I’m busting loose / I get funky with my rhymes like Mother Goose. | |
| Portable Promised Land (ms.) 153: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Groovin. To the beat. On the one. I feel like bustin loose! |
2. to commence, to start happening.
| ‘The Gutting of Couffignal’ Story Omnibus (1966) 19: When this thing busted loose I had to hide. |
3. to escape from an institution.
| Three Soldiers 🌐 n.p.: ‘Say, how did you come to bust loose?’ said Al, turning his head towards Andrews. |
1. (US) to strain oneself physically or emotionally.
| WELS. | |
| in DARE. | |
| oral testimony in HDAS I. |
2. to swell with pride.
| in DARE. | |
| High Times Hard Times 21: I was so proud I almost popped my buttons. | |
| OG Dad 88: I actually heard my pride ’n’ joy fart for the first time [...] I’m bustin’ my buttons! |
(US black) to be generous, to display one’s munificence.
| Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 105: You see I’m out West, knocking my mess, busting my vest on the simple chicks and wealthy hicks. | |
| Really the Blues 217: Aw, come on and bust your vest, what you goin’ to make out of sportin’ life? | |
| Book of Negro Folklore 482: bust your vest : To swell with pride. That preacher’s busting his vest. |
(US) to distress, to make unhappy.
| Sudden 12: Yu busted that fella wide open, an’ his bronc’ll be throwin’ gravel plenty-industrious just now. |
see separate entries.
see separate entries.