Adjacent Words

Busy definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BUSY, a. biz'zy.
1. Employed with constant attention; engaged about something that renders interruption inconvenient; as, a man is busy in posting his books.
My mistress is busy and cannot come.
2. Actively employed; occupied without cessation; constantly in motion; as a busy bee.
3. Active in that which does not concern the person; meddling with or prying into the affairs of others; officious; importunate;hence, troublesome; vexatious.
4. Much occupied with employment; as a busy day.
BUSY, v.t. biz'zy. To employ with constant attention; to keep engaged; to make or keep busy; as, to busy one's self with books.
To be busied with genue and species.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: actively or fully engaged or occupied; "busy with her work"; "a busy man"; "too busy to eat lunch" [ant: idle]
2: overcrowded or cluttered with detail; "a busy painting"; "a fussy design" [syn: busy, fussy]
3: intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner; "an interfering old woman"; "bustling about self-importantly making an officious nuisance of himself"; "busy about other people's business" [syn: interfering, meddlesome, meddling, officious, busy, busybodied]
4: crowded with or characterized by much activity; "a very busy week"; "a busy life"; "a busy street"; "a busy seaport"
5: (of facilities such as telephones or lavatories) unavailable for use by anyone else or indicating unavailability; (`engaged' is a British term for a busy telephone line); "her line is busy"; "receptionists' telephones are always engaged"; "the lavatory is in use"; "kept getting a busy signal" [syn: busy, engaged, in use] v
1: keep busy with; "She busies herself with her butterfly collection" [syn: busy, occupy]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective (busier; -est) Etymology: Middle English bisy, from Old English bisig; akin to Middle Dutch & Middle Low German besich busy Date: before 12th century 1. a. engaged in action ; occupied b. being in use <found the telephone busy> 2. full of activity ; bustling <a busy seaport> 3. foolishly or intrusively active ; meddling 4. full of distracting detail <a busy design> • busily adverb • busyness noun Synonyms: busy, industrious, diligent, assiduous, sedulous mean actively engaged or occupied. busy chiefly stresses activity as opposed to idleness or leisure <too busy to spend time with the children>. industrious implies characteristic or habitual devotion to work <industrious employees>. diligent suggests earnest application to some specific object or pursuit <very diligent in her pursuit of a degree>. assiduous stresses careful and unremitting application <assiduous practice>. sedulous implies painstaking and persevering application <a sedulous investigation of the murder>. II. verb (busied; busying) Date: before 12th century transitive verb to make busy ; occupy intransitive verb bustle <small boats busied to and fro — Quentin Crewe>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj., v., & n. --adj. (busier, busiest) 1 (often foll. by in, with, at, or pres. part.) occupied or engaged in work etc. with the attention concentrated (busy at their needlework; he was busy packing). 2 full of activity or detail; fussy (a busy evening; a picture busy with detail). 3 employed continuously; unresting (busy as a bee). 4 meddlesome; prying. 5 esp. US (of a telephone line) engaged. --v.tr. (-ies, -ied) (often refl.) keep busy; occupy (the work busied him for many hours; busied herself with the accounts). --n. (pl. -ies) sl. a detective; a policeman. Phrases and idioms: busy Lizzie a house-plant, Impatiens Walleriana, with usu. toothed leaves and pendulous flowers. Derivatives: busily adv. busyness n. (cf. BUSINESS). Etymology: OE bisig

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Busy Bus"y (b[i^]z"z[y^]), a. [OE. busi, bisi, AS. bysig; akin to D. bezig, LG. besig; cf. Skr. bh[=u]sh to be active, busy.] 1. Engaged in some business; hard at work (either habitually or only for the time being); occupied with serious affairs; not idle nor at leisure; as, a busy merchant. Sir, my mistress sends you word That she is busy, and she can not come. --Shak. 2. Constantly at work; diligent; active. Busy hammers closing rivets up. --Shak. Religious motives . . . are so busy in the heart. --Addison. 3. Crowded with business or activities; -- said of places and times; as, a busy street. To-morrow is a busy day. --Shak. 4. Officious; meddling; foolish active. On meddling monkey, or on busy ape. --Shak. 5. Careful; anxious. [Obs.] --Chaucer. Syn: Diligent; industrious; assiduous; active; occupied; engaged.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Busy Bus"y (b[i^]z"z[y^]), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Busied (b[i^]z"z[i^]d); p. pr. & vb. n. Busying.] [AS. bysgian.] To make or keep busy; to employ; to engage or keep engaged; to occupy; as, to busy one's self with books. Be it thy course to busy giddy minds With foreign quarrels. --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(busier, busiest, busies, busying, busied) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. When you are busy, you are working hard or concentrating on a task, so that you are not free to do anything else. What is it? I'm busy... They are busy preparing for a hectic day's activity on Saturday... Rachel said she would be too busy to come... Phil Martin is an exceptionally busy man. ADJ 2. A busy time is a period of time during which you have a lot of things to do. It'll have to wait. This is our busiest time... Even with her busy schedule she finds time to watch TV... I had a busy day and was rather tired. = hectic ? quiet ADJ: usu ADJ n 3. If you say that someone is busy thinking or worrying about something, you mean that it is taking all their attention, often to such an extent that they are unable to think about anything else. Companies are so busy analysing the financial implications that they overlook the effect on workers... Most people are too busy with their own troubles to give much help. = preoccupied ADJ: v-link ADJ, oft ADJ -ing 4. If you busy yourself with something, you occupy yourself by dealing with it. He busied himself with the camera... She busied herself getting towels ready... For a while Kathryn busied herself in the kitchen. VERB: V pron-refl with n/-ing, V pron-refl -ing, V pron-refl 5. A busy place is full of people who are doing things or moving about. The Strand is one of London's busiest and most affluent streets... The ward was busy and Amy hardly had time to talk. ADJ 6. When a telephone line is busy, you cannot make your call because the line is already being used by someone else. (mainly AM) I tried to reach him, but the line was busy. = engaged ADJ: usu v-link ADJ 7. see also busily

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Engaged, employed, occupied, at work, hard at work. 2. Diligent, assiduous, industrious, sedulous, notable, active, working, hard-working. 3. Brisk, stirring, bustling, nimble, agile, spry, constantly in motion. 4. Meddling, officious, pragmatical, priggish. II. v. a. Occupy, employ, make busy.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

As busy is the devil in a high wind; as busy as a hen with one chick.

Moby Thesaurus

absorb, active, arabesque, assiduous, at it, at work, attend to business, baroque, burden, bustling, busybody, chichi, complex, complicated, detailed, devote, diligent, divert, drive, elaborate, elegant, employ, employed, energetic, engage, engaged, engross, fag, fancy, fine, flamboyant, florid, flowery, forward, frilly, full of business, fussy, hard at it, hard at work, hectic, high-wrought, hustling, immerse, impertinent, in harness, industrious, inquisitive, intricate, involve, involved, keep busy, labored, lively, luxuriant, luxurious, meddlesome, meddling, mind the store, moresque, nosy, occupied, occupy, officious, on duty, on the go, on the hop, on the job, on the jump, on the move, on the run, oppress, ornate, ostentatious, overdrive, overelaborate, overelegant, overlabored, overtask, overtax, overwork, overworked, overwrought, pass the time, picturesque, presumptuous, pretty-pretty, prying, pushing, pushy, rich, rococo, self-appointed, snoopy, soak, spend, spend the time, sweat, task, tax, tied up, work, working