bust
verbnounadjectivenouncommon in dialogue
- Canada//bʌst//
- Australia//bɐst//
- //bʊst//
To break.
verb
- 1
To break.
I busted my cooker while trying to fix it.
- 2
slangTo arrest (someone or a group of people) for a crime.
Aaron got busted by the feds for leaking confidential government documents on Reddit.
- 3
slangTo catch (someone) in the act of doing something wrong, socially and morally inappropriate, or illegal, especially when being done in a sneaky or secretive state.
- 4
slangTo debunk, dispel (a belief).
We want to bust the myth that real men don't eat quiche.
- 5
An emphatic synonym of do or get.
He busted huge air off that jump!
- 6
informalTo reduce in rank.
He busted him down to patrolman for insubordination.
If Steinkamp doesn't take off that hat and stop messing around, I'm gonna bust him into a PFC.
- 7
To undo a trade, generally an error trade, that has already been executed.
- 8
To lose all of one's chips.
- 9
To exceed a score of 21.
- 10
slangTo break in (an animal).
A few weeks later, Richard was killed accidentally while busting a wild mustang […]
- 11
slangTo have sex with (a woman or girl) for the first time, to take another's virginity.
Smith hears Nancy's protests - "Don't ... no, please don't." - when Hicock menaces her with "You ever had a man?" Finding Hicock rubbing her thigh as she whimpers in fear, Smith confronts him about his intentions, and Hicock says, "First, I'm going to bust that little girl." Smith tells him no, but Hicock replies, "What do you care? You can bust her too."
- 12
slangTo ejaculate; to eject semen or to squirt.
I busted a fat one just wackin' it to the selfie she sent me.
After ten times we fucked, I think I bust twice He was nice, kept my neck filled with ice
- 13
For a headline to exceed the amount of space reserved for it.
The temptation to squeeze in a favourite headline that busts by using the flexibility of new technology is often very strong.
If your headline busts (breaks the confines of the layout) you will know straightaway. Similarly, the computer will inform you, in terms of the number of lines, how much longer or shorter the copy is in relation to the space allotted.
- 14
slangTo refute an established opening.
So is the King's Gambit really busted?
- 15
slangTo shoot (a gun).
He busted his glock.
- 16
slangTo attack, hit or insult (someone).
He's always busting on you.
- 17
slangTo do or perform; to move quickly.
Bust a left turn.
Etymology
From Middle English busten, a variant of bursten, bresten (“to burst”). Compare Low German basten, a variant of barsten (“to burst”). Cognate with burst and bost.
noun
- 1
slangThe act of arresting someone for a crime, or raiding a suspected criminal operation.
a narcotics bust
- 2
slangA police raid or takedown of a criminal enterprise.
- 3
slangA failed enterprise; a bomb.
- 4
slangA refutation of an opening, or of a previously published analysis.
- 5
slangA disappointment.
Paris was a bust. They wouldn't even let us see the Mona Lisa.
- 6
A player who fails to meet expectations.
- 7
The downward portion of a boom and bust cycle; a recession.
- 8
datedA spree, unrestrained revel, or wild party.
adjective
- 1
slangWithout any money, broke, bankrupt.
After months of financial problems, the company finally went bust.
noun
- 1
A sculptural portrayal of a person's head and shoulders.
- 2
A woman's breasts; the circumference of her chest measured around the breasts.
Etymology
Etymology tree Latin būstum Italian bustobor. French bustebor. English bust Borrowed from French buste, from Italian busto (“torso, upper body”), assumed to stem from Latin bustum (“funeral monument, tomb," originally "funeral pyre, place where corpses are burned”). Perhaps shortened from Latin ambustum, neuter of ambustus (“scorched”), past participle of ambūrō (“burn all over, scorch”), from ambi- (“around”) + ūrō (“to burn”). Compare Old Norse beysti.
Forms
- plural
- busts
- past tense
- busted
- past participle
- busted
- present participle
- busting
- third person singular
- busts