buster
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: rhymes: -ʌstə(ɹ)
Forms: form: busters
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.
Senses: examples: text: Now death, I pray thee what is it, but a buster of bonds; a destruction of toyle?
ref: 1614, S. Jerome, Moses his Sight of Canaan, section 147:
text: Rothlin was described... by the papers as the buster of the bandit ring.
ref: 2005, J. Madhavan, Sita & Forest Bandits, section 122:
glosses: Someone who or something that bursts, breaks, or destroys a specified thing.
raw_tags: with 'of'
examples: text: German ‘balloon busters’ attack the Dover barrage.
ref: 1940 September 2, Life, 29/1:
text: Our main purpose in further experimentation with nuclear bombs is not... to make city-busters more horrible.
ref: 1958 February 10, Life, section 70:
text: B-2 bombers are the only plane capable of carrying the Massive Ordinance Penetrator, which experts have highlighted as the only type of bomb potentially capable of destroying Iran’s underground Fordow nuclear facility. Each B-2 bomber is able to carry two of these “bunker buster” bombs, which weigh an impressive 30,000 pounds each.
ref: 2025 June 21, Thomas Bordeaux, Natasha Bertrand and Zachary Cohen, “US moves B-2 bombers as Trump weighs Iran options”, in CNN:
text: The bombs used in the strikes were GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrators, known as a “bunker busters,” two sources familiar with the operation said.
ref: 2025 June 21, Kevin Liptak, “Strikes on Iranian nuclear sites thrust US into escalating Middle East conflict”, in CNN:
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: Forming compounds denoting a team, weapon, or device specialized in the destruction of the first element.
examples: text: The buster must be careful to keep well away from sheds and timber.
ref: 1891 July, Harper's Magazine, 208/2:
text: Some busters caught their horses for the first time over the head, and snubbed or choked them until they fell gasping.
ref: 1964, John Hendrix, If I Can Do It Horseback: A Cow-Country Sketchbook, page 40:
glosses: Someone who or something that 'breaks', tames, or overpowers a specified person or thing.
A broncobuster.
raw_tags: in particular
with 'of'
examples: text: Men nicknamed him the ‘Booze Buster’, and cartoonists loved to picture him, revolver in hand,... fighting the demon rum.
ref: 1920, F. A. McKenzie, ‘Pussyfoot’ Johnson, v. 83
text: The professional fraud-busters [of the art world].
ref: 1974 July 4, New Scientist, 65/2
text: New York City traffic agents have become Gridlock Busters and cigarette foes are smokebusters.
ref: 1984 November 18, Times, N.Y, iv. 24/2:
topics: government
law-enforcement
glosses: Someone who or something that 'breaks', tames, or overpowers a specified person or thing.
Forming compounds denoting an agent or agency tasked with reducing or eliminating the first element.
raw_tags: with 'of'
examples: text: ‘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.’
ref: 1833 April, Parthenon, section 293:
text: What a buster of a lunch it turned out to be.
ref: 2004 November 20, South Wales Echo, section 9:
glosses: Someone or something remarkable, especially for being loud, large, etc.
examples: text: That's generous, old buster.
ref: 1838 March 24, New Yorker, 4/1:
text: An extremely wealthy old buster.
ref: 1919, P.G. Wodehouse, My Man Jeeves, section 79:
text: Calvin: I'm going to watch TV all night.
Mom: That's what you think, buster!
ref: 1986 February 27, Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes (comic):
text: ‘Careful, buster,’ she said. ‘I've got a knife in my hand.’
ref: 2001, S. MacKay, Fall Guy, ix. 113:
glosses: Someone or something remarkable, especially for being loud, large, etc.
A form of address, particularly of men: guy, dude, fella, mack, buddy, loser. (Originally as 'old buster'.)
qualifier: variously expressing familiarity; admiration; or hostility; variously expressing familiarity; admiration; or hostility
examples: text: Three penny busters, and a whole kit-full of winegar and mustard.
ref: 1835 September 16, Morning Post, 4/2:
text: An 8oz. loaf of brown bread... goes by the name of ‘buster’, I suppose on account of the way they blow you out.
ref: 1904 June 8, Journal of the Department of Labour, New Zealand, section 536:
glosses: A loaf of bread.
examples: text: They were on a buster, and were taken up by the police.
ref: 1848, John Russell Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms:
text: All off for a buster, armstrong, hollering down the street.
ref: 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 14: Oxen of the Sun]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 405:
glosses: A drinking spree, a binge.
examples: text: ‘This is a buster,’ i.e. a powerful or heavy wind.
ref: 1848, John Russell Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms:
text: The Buster and Brickfielder: austral red-dust blizzard and red-hot Simoom.
ref: 1886, Frank Cowan, Australia, section 14:
text: When the barometer drops rapidly... watch out for a strong sou'wester. A buster can be on you in a flash.
ref: 1991, J. Moore, By Way of Wind, section 121:
glosses: A gale, a strong wind; (especially Australia) a southerly buster.
examples: text: Dainty... came down ‘a buster’ at the last hurdle, and Scots Grey cantered in by himself.
ref: 1874 April, Baily's Monthly Magazine, section 114:
glosses: A heavy fall; (also performing arts) a staged fall, a pratfall.
examples: text: In that state he is called a ‘Buster’, bursting his shell.
ref: 1855 October 18, Henry A. Wise, letter in J.P. Hambleton's Biographical Sketch of Henry A. Wise (1856), 448
text: Restaurant August... serves contemporary French cuisine prepared with Louisiana ingredients like buster crabs, shrimp and oysters.
ref: 2002 January 6, Times, N.Y, v. 4/6:
glosses: A molting crab.
examples: text: Tops and Bottoms (also Tops, Busters, Ts, Mis-spots): These are the dice used by the professional cheats.
ref: 1961, John Scarne, Complete Guide to Gambling, page 283:
text: To make six-eight, natural dice, or busters, he would take unspotted dice and then grind and color only the spots he wanted.
ref: 1977, National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, The Development of the Law of Gambling: 1776-1976, page 423:
topics: gambling
games
glosses: A cheat's die whose sides bear only certain combinations of spots, so that undesirable values can never be rolled.
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