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Bustle
Definitions
- 1 A surname from German.
- 1 An excited activity; a stir. countable, uncountable
"the whirl and bustle of a large metropolis"
- 2 a rapid active commotion wordnet
- 3 A cover to protect and hide the back panel of a computer or other office machine. countable
- 4 a framework worn at the back below the waist for giving fullness to a woman's skirt wordnet
- 5 A frame worn underneath a woman's skirt, typically only protruding from the rear as opposed to the earlier more circular hoops. countable, historical
"All the portraits that hang on the walls of the living room are, I realize, of my mother's family: miniatures of her great-aunts in Victorian bustles and elaborate feathered hats; a gilt-framed oil of her great-great-great-uncle as a boy in pastoral England, wearing a gold riding coat over white jodhpurs and sitting astride a white steed, a King Charles spaniel yapping at them from the foreground of the canvas."
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- 6 Money; cash. UK, obsolete, slang, uncountable
"Why the old clerical's turned coper—a new way of raising the wind——letting his friends down easy—gave you a good dinner, I suppose, Sir John, and took this method of drawing the bustle for it: an old trick of the reverend's."
- 1 To move busily and energetically with fussiness (often followed by about).
"The commuters bustled about inside the train station."
- 2 move or cause to move energetically or busily wordnet
- 3 To teem or abound (usually followed by with); to exhibit an energetic and active abundance (of a thing).
"The train station was bustling with commuters."
- 4 To push around, to importune. transitive
"Don’t bustle her or fuss or snatch: / A suitor looking at his watch / Is not a posture that persuades / Willing, much less reluctant maids."
Etymology
From Middle English bustlen, bustelen, bostlen, perhaps an alteration of *busklen (> Modern English buskle), a frequentative of Middle English busken (“to prepare; make ready”), from Old Norse búask (“to prepare oneself”); or alternatively from a frequentative form of Middle English busten, bisten (“to buffet; pummel; dash; beat”) + -le. Compare also Icelandic bustla (“to splash; bustle”).
From Middle English bustlen, bustelen, bostlen, perhaps an alteration of *busklen (> Modern English buskle), a frequentative of Middle English busken (“to prepare; make ready”), from Old Norse búask (“to prepare oneself”); or alternatively from a frequentative form of Middle English busten, bisten (“to buffet; pummel; dash; beat”) + -le. Compare also Icelandic bustla (“to splash; bustle”).
Possibly an Americanized spelling of South German Bastl or a variant of Bussell.
See also for "bustle"
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Unscramble this word: bustle