bust
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈbʌst/
rhymes: -ʌst
homophone: bussed
homophone: bused
Forms: form: busts
form: busting
form: busted
form: busted
form: bust
form: bust
Etymology: From a non-rhotic pronunciation of burst, which goes back to Middle English busten, a variant of bursten, bresten (“to burst”). Compare Low German basten, a variant of barsten (“to burst”).
Senses: examples: text: I busted my cooker while trying to fix it.
glosses: To break.
examples: text: Aaron got busted by the feds for leaking confidential government documents on Reddit.
glosses: To arrest (someone or a group of people) for a crime.
glosses: To catch (someone) in the act of doing something wrong, socially and morally inappropriate, or illegal, especially when being done in a sneaky or secretive state.
examples: text: MythBusters
glosses: To debunk, dispel (a belief).
examples: text: He busted huge air off that jump!
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
snowboarding
sports
glosses: An emphatic synonym of do or get.
examples: text: He busted him down to patrolman for insubordination.
text: If Steinkamp doesn't take off that hat and stop messing around, I'm gonna bust him into a PFC.
ref: 1962, The Manchurian Candidate, 01:56:35
glosses: To reduce in rank.
topics: business
finance
glosses: To undo a trade, generally an error trade, that has already been executed.
topics: card-games
poker
glosses: To lose all of one's chips.
topics: blackjack
games
glosses: To exceed a score of 21.
examples: text: A few weeks later, Richard was killed accidentally while busting a wild mustang […]
ref: 1997, Charles Oswald, Gone with the Western Wind:
glosses: To break in (an animal).
examples: text: Smith hears Nancy's protests - "Don't ... no, please don't." - when Hicock menaces her with "You ever had a man?" Finding Hicock rubbing her thigh as she whimpers in fear, Smith confronts him about his intentions, and Hicock says, "First, I'm going to bust that little girl." Smith tells him no, but Hicock replies, "What do you care? You can bust her too."
ref: 2014, Tison Pugh, Truman Capote: A Literary Life at the Movies, page 127:
glosses: To break in (a woman or girl), to deflower
examples: text: I busted a fat one just wackin' it to the selfie she sent me.
text: After ten times we fucked, I think I bust twice
He was nice, kept my neck filled with ice
ref: 1996, Lil' Kim, “Not Tonight”:
glosses: To ejaculate; to eject semen or to squirt.
examples: text: The temptation to squeeze in a favourite headline that busts by using the flexibility of new technology is often very strong.
ref: 1990, Paul Williams, The Computerized Newspaper: A Practical Guide for Systems Users, page 105:
text: If your headline busts (breaks the confines of the layout) you will know straightaway. Similarly, the computer will inform you, in terms of the number of lines, how much longer or shorter the copy is in relation to the space allotted.
ref: 2007, Rob Steen, Sports Journalism: A Multimedia Primer, page 167:
topics: journalism
media
glosses: For a headline to exceed the amount of space reserved for it.
examples: text: So is the King's Gambit really busted?
ref: 2012 April 2, Frederic Friedel, “Rajlich: Busting the King's Gambit, this time for sure”, in ChessBase:
topics: board-games
chess
games
glosses: To refute an established opening.
examples: text: He busted his glock.
qualifier: African-American Vernacular
glosses: To shoot (a gun).
examples: text: He's always busting on you.
qualifier: African-American Vernacular
glosses: To attack, hit or insult (someone).
examples: text: Bust a left turn.
glosses: To do or perform; to move quickly.
Synonyms: sense: to arrest for a crime
word: nick
Derived terms: ball-bust
belly-busting
bunker-busting
bustable
bust a cap
bust a cap in someone's ass
bust a gasket
bust a gut
bust a move
bust a nut
bust around
bust ass
bust ass cold
bust chops
bust down
bust-down
buster
bust in
bust into
bust loose
bust off
bust on
bust one's ass
bust one's balls
bust one's butt
bust one's chops
bust one's gut
bust one's hump
bust one's neck
bust out
bust-out
bust sod
bust someone's agates
bust someone's ass
bust someone's balls
bust the dust
bust up
buy-bust
genre-busting
gut-busting
lung-busting
mutton busting
mythbust
trend-busting