busk

English

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bʌsk/
• Rhymes: -ʌsk

Etymology 1

From French busc, by dissimilation from buste from Italian busto.

Noun

busk (plural busks)

1. A strip of metal, whalebone, wood, or other material, worn in the front of a corset to stiffen it.
   • Marston

     Her long slit sleeves, stiff busk, puff verdingall, / Is all that makes her thus angelical.

2. (by extension) A corset.
   • 1661, John Donne, "To his Mistress going to Bed":

     Off with that happy busk, which I envie, / That still can be, and still can stand so nigh.

Translations

stiffening strip in the front of a corset

• Bulgarian: банел
• Finnish: plansetti (fi)

• French: busc (fr) m

Etymology 2

Etymology unknown

Noun

busk (plural busks)

1. (obsolete) A kind of linen.
   • 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, Volume 4, p. 557:

     Busk, a kind of table linen, occurs first in 1458, and occasionally afterwards.

Translations

kind of linen

Etymology 3

From Middle English busken, from Old Norse búask

Verb

busk (third-person singular simple present busks, present participle busking, simple past and past participle busked)

1. To prepare; to make ready; to array; to dress.

   Busk you, busk you, my bonny, bonny bride. — Hamilton.

2. To go; to direct one's course. [Obs.]

   Ye might have busked you to Huntly banks. — Skelton.

Etymology 4

Apparently from French busquer or Spanish buscar.

Verb

busk (third-person singular simple present busks, present participle busking, simple past and past participle busked)

1. (intransitive) To solicit money by entertaining the public in the street or in public transport
2. (nautical) To tack, to cruise about.

Related terms

• busker

Translations

to solicit money by entertaining the public

• Jèrriais: beustchi

nautical: to tack

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Norwegian

busk

Etymology

From Old Norse buskr, from Proto-Germanic *buskaz. Compare Danish busk, Swedish buske, Icelandic búskur, English bush, Dutch bos, German Busch.

Noun

busk m

1. bush

Inflection

    Inflection of busk

	indefinite singular	definite singular	indefinite plural	definite plural
Bokmål m	busk	busken	busker	buskene
Nynorsk m	busk	busken	buskar	buskane

References

• “busk” in The Bokmål Dictionary / The Nynorsk Dictionary – Dokumentasjonsprosjektet.

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Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *buskaz, probably from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to grow”). Compare Old Saxon busk, Old English busc, bysc, Old Norse buskr.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /busk/

Noun

busk m

1. bush

Descendants

• Middle High German: busch, bosch
  • German: Busch