adj, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   To busy or involve (oneself) too thoroughly in something. transitive

   "Returning to England, he was there imprisoned, some say for overbusying himself in matters of foreign trade."

Adjective

1. 1
   Excessively busy; officious.

Adjective

1. 1
   too busy wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

busy

Example

More examples

"Returning to England, he was there imprisoned, some say for overbusying himself in matters of foreign trade."

Etymology

From Middle English overbisi, equivalent to over- + busy.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.