Word: buster Part of Speech: noun 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. 1. Someone who or something that bursts, breaks, or destroys a specified thing. Labels: colloquial Example: Now death, I pray thee what is it, but a buster of bonds; a destruction of toyle? Example: Rothlin was described... by the papers as the buster of the bandit ring. 2. Forming compounds denoting a team, weapon, or device specialized in the destruction of the first element. Labels: slang Example: German ‘balloon busters’ attack the Dover barrage. Example: Our main purpose in further experimentation with nuclear bombs is not... to make city-busters more horrible. 3. Someone who or something that 'breaks', tames, or overpowers a specified person or thing. Labels: US, colloquial, dated, slang Example: The buster must be careful to keep well away from sheds and timber. Example: Some busters caught their horses for the first time over the head, and snubbed or choked them until they fell gasping. 4. Someone who or something that 'breaks', tames, or overpowers a specified person or thing. Labels: colloquial, slang Example: Men nicknamed him the ‘Booze Buster’, and cartoonists loved to picture him, revolver in hand,... fighting the demon rum. Example: The professional fraud-busters [of the art world]. 5. Someone or something remarkable, especially for being loud, large, etc. Labels: dated, slang Example: ‘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.’ Example: What a buster of a lunch it turned out to be. 6. Someone or something remarkable, especially for being loud, large, etc. Labels: colloquial, dated, slang Example: That's generous, old buster. Example: An extremely wealthy old buster. 7. A loaf of bread. Labels: obsolete, slang Example: Three penny busters, and a whole kit-full of winegar and mustard. Example: An 8oz. loaf of brown bread... goes by the name of ‘buster’, I suppose on account of the way they blow you out. 8. A drinking spree, a binge. Labels: obsolete, slang Example: They were on a buster, and were taken up by the police. Example: All off for a buster, armstrong, hollering down the street. 9. A gale, a strong wind; (especially Australia) a southerly buster. Labels: dated, slang Example: ‘This is a buster,’ i.e. a powerful or heavy wind. Example: The Buster and Brickfielder: austral red-dust blizzard and red-hot Simoom. 10. A heavy fall; (also performing arts) a staged fall, a pratfall. Labels: Australia, New-Zealand Example: Dainty... came down ‘a buster’ at the last hurdle, and Scots Grey cantered in by himself. 11. A molting crab. Labels: US, regional Example: In that state he is called a ‘Buster’, bursting his shell. Example: Restaurant August... serves contemporary French cuisine prepared with Louisiana ingredients like buster crabs, shrimp and oysters. 12. A cheat's die whose sides bear only certain combinations of spots, so that undesirable values can never be rolled. Labels: slang Example: Tops and Bottoms (also Tops, Busters, Ts, Mis-spots): These are the dice used by the professional cheats. Example: To make six-eight, natural dice, or busters, he would take unspotted dice and then grind and color only the spots he wanted.