# buster
## English
### Etymology

Originally a dialectal variant of burster; later influenced by bust +‎ -er.
The combining form of the term has appeared from the early 20th century but been especially prolific during three periods: in the 1930s, owing to the success of the radio series Gang Busters; in the 1940s, owing to its appearance as military slang; and in the 1980s, owing to the success of the movie Ghostbusters.

### Pronunciation

* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ʌstə(ɹ)

### Noun

buster (plural busters)
* (chiefly colloquial, with 'of') Someone who or something that bursts, breaks, or destroys a specified thing.
** 1614, S. Jerome, Moses his Sight of Canaan, section 147:Now death, I pray thee what is it, but a buster of bonds; a destruction of toyle?
** 2005, J. Madhavan, Sita & Forest Bandits, section 122:Rothlin was described... by the papers as the buster of the bandit ring.
* (chiefly military slang) Forming compounds denoting a team, weapon, or device specialized in the destruction of the first element.
** 1940 September 2, Life, 29/1:German ‘balloon busters’ attack the Dover barrage.
** 1958 February 10, Life, section 70:Our main purpose in further experimentation with nuclear bombs is not... to make city-busters more horrible.
* (chiefly colloquial, with 'of') Someone who or something that 'breaks', tames, or overpowers a specified person or thing.
** (US, in particular, dated, slang) A broncobuster.
*** 1891 July, Harper's Magazine, 208/2:The buster must be careful to keep well away from sheds and timber.
*** 1964, John Hendrix, If I Can Do It Horseback: A Cow-Country Sketchbook, page 40:Some busters caught their horses for the first time over the head, and snubbed or choked them until they fell gasping.
** (chiefly law enforcement slang) Forming compounds denoting an agent or agency tasked with reducing or eliminating the first element.
*** 1920, F. A. McKenzie, ‘Pussyfoot’ Johnson, v. 83:
    Men nicknamed him the ‘Booze Buster’, and cartoonists loved to picture him, revolver in hand,... fighting the demon rum.
*** 1974 July 4, New Scientist, 65/2:
    The professional fraud-busters [of the art world].
*** 1984 November 18, Times, N.Y, iv. 24/2:New York City traffic agents have become Gridlock Busters and cigarette foes are smokebusters.
* (dated, slang) Someone or something remarkable, especially for being loud, large, etc..
** 1833 April, Parthenon, section 293:‘I had to clean this old roarer,’ continued the ‘editor’... as he wiped the barrel of his pistol. ‘She's a buster, I tell you.’
** 2004 November 20, South Wales Echo, section 9:What a buster of a lunch it turned out to be.
** (colloquial, variously expressing familiarity, admiration, or hostility) A form of address, particularly of men: guy, dude, fella, mack, buddy, loser. (Originally as 'old buster'.)
*** 1838 March 24, New Yorker, 4/1:That's generous, old buster.
*** 1919, P.G. Wodehouse, My Man Jeeves, section 79:An extremely wealthy old buster.
*** 1986 February 27, Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes (comic):Calvin: I'm going to watch TV all night. Mom: That's what you think, buster!
*** 2001, S. MacKay, Fall Guy, ix. 113:‘Careful, buster,’ she said. ‘I've got a knife in my hand.’
* (obsolete, slang) A loaf of bread.
** 1835 September 16, Morning Post, 4/2:Three penny busters, and a whole kit-full of winegar and mustard.
** 1904 June 8, Journal of the Department of Labour, New Zealand, section 536:An 8oz. loaf of brown bread... goes by the name of ‘buster’, I suppose on account of the way they blow you out.
* (obsolete, slang) A drinking spree, a binge.
** 1848, John Russell Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms:They were on a buster, and were taken up by the police.
** 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 14: Oxen of the Sun]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 405:All off for a buster, armstrong, hollering down the street.
* (dated, slang) A gale, a strong wind; (especially Australia) a southerly buster.
** 1848, John Russell Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms:‘This is a buster,’ i.e. a powerful or heavy wind.
** 1886, Frank Cowan, Australia, section 14:The Buster and Brickfielder: austral red-dust blizzard and red-hot Simoom.
** 1991, J. Moore, By Way of Wind, section 121:When the barometer drops rapidly... watch out for a strong sou'wester. A buster can be on you in a flash.
* (Australia and New Zealand) A heavy fall; (also performing arts) a staged fall, a pratfall.
** 1874 April, Baily's Monthly Magazine, section 114:Dainty... came down ‘a buster’ at the last hurdle, and Scots Grey cantered in by himself.
* (US, regional) A molting crab.
** 1855 October 18, Henry A. Wise, letter in J.P. Hambleton's Biographical Sketch of Henry A. Wise (1856), 448:
    In that state he is called a ‘Buster’, bursting his shell.
** 2002 January 6, Times, N.Y, v. 4/6:Restaurant August... serves contemporary French cuisine prepared with Louisiana ingredients like buster crabs, shrimp and oysters.
* (gambling, slang) A cheat's die whose sides bear only certain combinations of spots, so that undesirable values can never be rolled.
** 1961, John Scarne, Complete Guide to Gambling, page 283:Tops and Bottoms (also Tops, Busters, Ts, Mis-spots): These are the dice used by the professional cheats.
** 1977, National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, The Development of the Law of Gambling: 1776-1976, page 423:To make six-eight, natural dice, or busters, he would take unspotted dice and then grind and color only the spots he wanted.

#### Derived terms

* ballbuster, ball-buster
* balloon-buster
* belly-buster, belly buster
* blockbuster, block-buster
* booze-buster
* brainbuster
* brick-buster
* broncobuster, bronco-buster, bronco buster
* bunker buster
* bust-out man
* chartbuster
* cloudbuster
* come a buster
* crime buster, crime-buster, crimebuster
* cultbuster
* dam-buster
* dambuster
* doorbuster
* drugbuster
* dustbuster, dust buster
* facebuster
* fisherman buster
* fort-buster
* gangbuster
* gangbusters
* ghostbuster
* gutbuster
* have a buster
* knuckle-buster
* middlebuster
* mythbuster
* old buster
* price buster
* quackbuster
* racketbuster
* ratebuster
* rate-buster
* rodbuster
* rust-buster
* scud-buster
* ship-buster
* skull-buster
* slumpbuster
* sodbuster
* spinebuster
* stressbuster
* stubble buster
* swampbuster
* tankbuster
* thirst-buster
* trustbuster
* unionbuster

#### Translations
### References

* ↑ Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. "buster, n." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013.
* ↑ Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. "-buster, comb. form" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013.
* “buster”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* Strube, Stuber, brutes, burets, rebuts, surbet, tubers

## Danish
### Noun

buster
* indefinite plural of buste