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 The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.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, of uncertain origin (means entry 1)

Noun

busk (plural busks)

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

elastic strip in the front of a corset

Bulgarian: банел

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.

Verb

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

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

Related terms

• busker

Translations

nautical: to tack

to solicit money by entertaining the public

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Norwegian

busk

Etymology

From Old Norse buskr.

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 *busk-.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /busk/

Noun

busk m.

1. bush