Adjacent Words

Bustle definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BUS'TLE, v.i. bus'l. [ This word may be allied to busy,or to L. festino.]
To stir quick; to be very active; to be very quick in motion, often or usually with the sense of noise or agitation.
And leave the world for me to bustle in.
BUS'TLE, n. bus'l. Hurry; great stir; rapid motion with noise and agitation; tumult from stirring or agitation; combustion.
All would have been well without this bustle.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a rapid active commotion [syn: bustle, hustle, flurry, ado, fuss, stir]
2: a framework worn at the back below the waist for giving fullness to a woman's skirt v
1: move or cause to move energetically or busily; "The cheerleaders bustled about excitingly before their performance" [syn: bustle, bustle about, hustle]

Merriam Webster's

I. intransitive verb (bustled; bustling) Etymology: probably alteration of obsolete buskle to prepare, frequentative of busk, from Old Norse b?ask to prepare oneself Date: 1580 1. to move briskly and often ostentatiously 2. to be busily astir ; teem • bustling adjective • bustlingly adverb II. noun Date: 1621 noisy, energetic, and often obtrusive activity <the hustle and bustle of the big city> III. noun Etymology: origin unknown Date: 1786 a pad or framework expanding and supporting the fullness and drapery of the back of a woman's skirt or dress; also the drapery so supported

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. v. & n. --v. 1 intr. (often foll. by about) a work etc. showily, energetically, and officiously. b hasten (bustled about the kitchen banging saucepans). 2 tr. make (a person) hurry or work hard (bustled him into his overcoat). 3 intr. (as bustling adj.) colloq. full of activity. --n. excited activity; a fuss. Derivatives: bustler n. Etymology: perh. f. buskle frequent. of busk prepare 2. n. hist. a pad or frame worn under a skirt and puffing it out behind. Etymology: 18th c.: orig. unkn.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bustle Bus"tle, n. A kind of pad or cushion worn on the back below the waist, by women, to give fullness to the skirts; -- called also bishop, and tournure.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bustle Bus"tle (b[u^]s"s'l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Bustled (-s'ld); p. pr. & vb.n. Bustling (-sl[i^]ng).] [Cf. OE. buskle, perh. fr. AS. bysig busy, bysg-ian to busy + the verbal termination -le; or Icel. bustla to splash, bustle.] To move noisily; to be rudely active; to move in a way to cause agitation or disturbance; as, to bustle through a crowd. And leave the world for me to bustle in. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bustle Bus"tle, n. Great stir; agitation; tumult from stirring or excitement. A strange bustle and disturbance in the world. --South.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(bustles, bustling, bustled) 1. If someone bustles somewhere, they move there in a hurried way, often because they are very busy. She bustled about, turning on lights, moving pillows around on the sofa. VERB: V prep/adv 2. A place that is bustling with people or activity is full of people who are very busy or lively. The sidewalks are bustling with people... The main attraction was the bustling market. VERB: V with n, V-ing 3. Bustle is busy, noisy activity. ...the hustle and bustle of modern life... N-UNCOUNT: oft N of n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. n. Fuss, stir about, busy one's self, be active, be busy, bestir one's self, make a fuss, be in a fidget, be in a pucker (colloq.), be in a stew, make much ado about trifles or about nothing. II. n. 1. Stir, fuss, hurry, flurry, tumult, pother, commotion, ado, to-do. 2. Bishop, tournure.

Moby Thesaurus

accelerate, ado, agitation, bake, beat, bilk, bite, bluff, bluster, bluster and bluff, blustering, boastfulness, bobbery, boil, boiling, bother, botheration, bravado, brouhaha, bullying, bundle, burst, buzz about, chase, cheat, chisel, chouse, churn, clamor, commotion, conturbation, cozen, crowd, dash, dash off, dash on, discomposure, disorder, dispatch, disquiet, disquietude, disturbance, double-time, drive, drive on, dust, ebullience, ebullition, eddy, effervescence, embroilment, excitement, expedite, fanfaronade, feery-fary, ferment, fermentation, festinate, fever, feverishness, fidgetiness, fidgets, fit, flap, flit, flurry, fluster, flutter, flutteration, flutteriness, fly, foment, forward, fume, furore, fuss, fussiness, get going, get moving, gyp, hassle, haste, hasten, hasten on, hectoring, helter-skelter, hie on, hubbub, hullabaloo, hurly-burly, hurry, hurry about, hurry along, hurry on, hurry through, hurry up, hurry-scurry, hustle, hustle up, inquietude, intimidation, jitters, jumpiness, kiln, leap, lose no time, maelstrom, make a fuss, make haste, malaise, moil, move quickly, nerviness, nervosity, nervousness, overreach, pell-mell, perturbation, plunge, post, pother, precipitate, press, press on, push, push on, push through, quicken, race, railroad through, rant, ream, restlessness, rodomontade, roil, rout, row, ruffle, run, rush, rush about, rush along, rush around, rush through, scamper, scramble, scurry, scuttle, seethe, seething, side, spasm, speed, speed along, speed up, splutter, spur, spurt, sputter, stampede, stew, sting, stir, swagger, swashbucklery, sweat, swirl, swirling, take, tear, tear around, to-do, trepidation, trepidity, tumult, tumultuation, turbidity, turbulence, turmoil, twitter, unease, unquiet, unrest, uproar, upset, urge, vortex, whip, whip along, whirl, whirlpool, whirlwind, whisk, whiz about, yeastiness