abuzz
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈbʌz/
rhymes: -ʌz
Forms: form: more abuzz
form: most abuzz
form: a-buzz
Etymology: From a- (prefix indicating a condition or manner) + buzz (“feeling or rush of energy or excitement; major topic of conversation; widespread rumor; information spread behind the scenes”) or buzz (“to show a high level of activity and haste; to communicate in an undertone; to spread, as a report, by whispers or secretly; to talk to incessantly or confidentially in a low humming voice”).
Senses: examples: text: The court was all astir and a-buzz, when the black sheep—whom many fell away from in dread—pressed him into an obscure corner among the crowd.
ref: 1859, Charles Dickens, “The Game Made”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book III (The Track of a Storm), page 212:
text: There's too many women in the house for me: I hate the sound of women's voices; they're always either a-buzz or a-squeak, always either a-buzz or a-squeak.
ref: 1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “The Night-school and the Schoolmaster”, in Adam Bede […], volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book second, page 124:
text: The long silent halls of sumptuous hotels are all abuzz with excited arrivals.
ref: 1879, T. DeWitt Talmage [i.e., Thomas De Witt Talmage], “The Sins of Summer Watering Places”, in The Masque Torn Off, Chicago, Ill.: J. Fairbanks & Co. [et al.], →OCLC, page 171:
text: Now what a-devil has set this hornet's nest of theirs abuzz so suddenly?
ref: 1902, Francis Lynde, “How a King’s Trooper Became a Wastrel”, in The Master of Appleby: […], New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, →OCLC, page 289:
text: The town was abuzz with excitement for an hour, when the news became stale.
ref: 1913 July, Peter B[ernhard] Kyne, “The Long Chance: The Tale of a Hat Ranch”, in Charles K[ellogg] Field, editor, Sunset: The Pacific Monthly, volume 31, number 1, San Francisco, Calif.: Southern Pacific Company, →OCLC, page 131, column 2:
text: It was coming up on the cusp of July and August, and he remembered boyhood summers on the mountain's slopes abuzz with blackflies and syrupy heat.
ref: 2005 June, Cory Doctorow, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, New York, N.Y.: Tor Books, →ISBN; 1st trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Tom Doherty Associates, 2006, →ISBN:
text: The ranch was abuzz with activity and had been for hours.
ref: 2015, Lauren Dane, chapter 20, in Back to You, Don Mills, Ont.: HQN Books, →ISBN, page 237:
synonyms: word: abuzz
word: agile
word: airy
word: alive
word: animate
word: animated
word: brisk
word: busy
word: busy as a bee
word: buxom
word: buzzing
word: diligent
word: driven
word: driving
word: dynamic
word: eager
word: effervescent
word: energetic
word: enthusiastic
word: expeditious
word: frisky
word: gay
word: glowing
word: happy
word: hearty
word: impetuous
word: industrious
word: keen
word: kinetic
word: lively
word: merry
word: mobile
word: motivated
word: moving
word: nimble
word: peppy
word: perky
word: restive
word: snappy
word: spirited
word: sprightly
word: sprunt
word: spry
word: vibrant
word: vigorous
word: vivacious
word: vivid
word: zealous
word: zestful
word: zippy
glosses: Characterized by a high level of activity or gossip; in a buzz (“feeling or rush of energy or excitement”), buzzing.