Part 1499

<hw>Bus"y</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>v. t.</tt> <wordforms>[<tt>imp. & p. p.</tt> <er>Busied</er> <tt>(#)</tt>; <tt>p. pr. & vb. n.</tt> <er>Busying</er>.]</wordforms> <ety>[AS. <ets>bysgian</ets>.]</ety> <def>To make or keep busy; to employ; to engage or keep engaged; to occupy; <as>as, to <ex>busy</ex> one's self with books</as>.</def>

<blockquote>Be it thy course to <b>busy</b> giddy minds With foreign quarrels. <i>Shak.</i></blockquote>

<h1>Busybody</h1> <Xpage=196>

<hw>Bus"y*bod`y</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt>; <plu>pl. <plw>Busybodies</plw> <tt>(#)</tt>.</plu> <def>One who officiously concerns himself with the affairs of others; a meddling person.</def>

<blockquote>And not only idle, but tattlers also and <b>busybodies</b>, speaking things which they ought not. <i>1 Tim. v. 13.</i></blockquote>

<h1>But</h1> <Xpage=196>

<hw>But</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>prep.</tt>, <tt>adv.</tt> & <tt>conj.</tt> <ety>[OE. <ets>bute</ets>, <ets>buten</ets>, AS. <ets>b<?/tan</ets>, without, on the outside, except, besides; pref. <ets>be-</ets> + <ets><?/tan</ets> outward, without, fr. <ets><?/t</ets> out. Primarily, <ets>b<?/tan</ets>, as well as <ets><?/t</ets>, is an adverb. &root;198. See <er>By</er>, <er>Out</er>; cf. <er>About</er>.]</ety> <p><b>1.</b> <def>Except with; unless with; without.</def> <mark>[Obs.]</mark>

<blockquote>So insolent that he could not go <b>but</b> either spurning equals or trampling on his inferiors. <i>Fuller.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>Touch not the cat <b>but</b> a glove. <i>Motto of the Mackintoshes.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>Except; besides; save.</def>

<blockquote>Who can it be, ye gods! <b>but</b> perjured Lycon? <i>E. Smith.</i></blockquote>

<note>&hand; In this sense, <i>but</i> is often used with other particles; <as>as, <i>but for</i>, without, had it not been for. "Uncreated <i>but for</i> love divine."</note>

<i>Young.</i>

<p><b>3.</b> <def>Excepting or excluding the fact that; save that; were it not that; unless; -- elliptical, for <i>but that</i>.</def>

<blockquote>And <b>but</b> my noble Moor is true of mind . . . it were enough to put him to ill thinking. <i>Shak.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>4.</b> <def>Otherwise than that; that not; -- commonly, after a negative, with <i>that</i>.</def>

<blockquote>It cannot be <b>but</b> nature hath some director, of infinite power, to guide her in all her ways. <i>Hooker.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>There is no question <b>but</b> the king of Spain will reform most of the abuses. <i>Addison.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>5.</b> <def>Only; solely; merely.</def>

<blockquote>Observe <b>but</b> how their own principles combat one another. <i>Milton.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>If they kill us, we shall <b>but</b> die. <i>2 Kings vii. 4.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>A formidable man <b>but</b> to his friends. <i>Dryden.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>6.</b> <def>On the contrary; on the other hand; only; yet; still; however; nevertheless; more; further; -- as connective of sentences or clauses of a sentence, in a sense more or less exceptive or adversative; <as>as, the House of Representatives passed the bill, <ex>but</ex> the Senate dissented; our wants are many, <ex>but</ex> quite of another kind.</as></def>

<blockquote>Now abideth faith hope, charity, these three; <b>but</b> the greatest of these is charity. <i>1 Cor. xiii. 13.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>When pride cometh, then cometh shame; <b>but</b> with the lowly is wisdom. <i>Prov. xi. 2.</i></blockquote>

<cs><col>All but</col>. <cd>See under <er>All</er>.</cd> -- <col>But and if</col>, <cd>but if; an attempt on the part of King James's translators of the Bible to express the conjunctive and adversative force of the Greek <?/.</cd></cs>

<blockquote><b>But and if</b> that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; . . . the lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him. <i>Luke xii. 45, 46.</i></blockquote>

<cs><col>But if</col>, <cd>unless.</cd> <mark>[Obs.]</mark> <i>Chaucer.</i>