Part 885

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.

Bus"tler (bs"slr), n. An active, stirring person.

Bus"tling (bs"slng), a. Agitated; noisy; tumultuous; characterized by confused activity; as, a bustling crowd. "A bustling wharf." Hawthorne.

||Bus"to (&?;), n.; pl. Bustoes (&?;). [It.] A bust; a statue.

With some antick bustoes in the niches. Ashmole.

Bus"y (bz"z), a. [OE. busi, bisi, AS. bysig; akin to D. bezig, LG. besig; cf. Skr. bhsh 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.

Bus"y (bz"z), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Busied (bz"zd); 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.

Bus"y*bod`y (-bd`), n.; pl. Busybodies (-bd`z). One who officiously concerns himself with the affairs of others; a meddling person.

And not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. 1 Tim. v. 13.

But (bt), prep., adv. & conj. [OE. bute, buten, AS. btan, without, on the outside, except, besides; pref. be- + tan outward, without, fr. t out. Primarily, btan, as well as t, is an adverb. √198. See By, Out; cf. About.] 1. Except with; unless with; without. [Obs.]

So insolent that he could not go but either spurning equals or trampling on his inferiors. Fuller.

Touch not the cat but a glove. Motto of the Mackintoshes.

2. Except; besides; save.

Who can it be, ye gods! but perjured Lycon? E. Smith.

In this sense, but is often used with other particles; as, but for, without, had it not been for. "Uncreated but for love divine." Young.

3. Excepting or excluding the fact that; save that; were it not that; unless; -- elliptical, for but that.

And but my noble Moor is true of mind . . . it were enough to put him to ill thinking. Shak.