bustle

English

Etymology

From Middle English bustlen, bustelen, bostlen, perhaps an alteration of *busklen (> Modern English buskle), a frequentative of busken (“to prepare; make ready”), from Old Norse búask (“to prepare oneself”); or alternatively from a frequentative form of Middle English busten, bisten (“to buffet; pummel; dash; beat”) +‎ -le. Compare also Icelandic bustla (“to splash; bustle”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ʌsəl

Noun

bustle (plural bustles)

1. An excited activity; a stir.
   • 1748. David Hume. Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral. London: Oxford University Press, 1973. § 34.

     we are, perhaps, all the while flattering our natural indolence, which, hating the bustle of the world, and drudgery of business seeks a pretence of reason to give itself a full and uncontrolled indulgence

2. (computing) A cover to protect and hide the back panel of a computer or other office machine.
3. (historical) A frame worn underneath a woman's skirt, typically only protruding from the rear as opposed to the earlier more circular hoops.

Derived terms

• hustle and bustle

Translations

excited activity

• Arabic:

  Moroccan Arabic: روينة f (rwīna)

• Armenian: իրարանցում (hy) (irarancʻum)
• Bulgarian: суетня (bg) f (suetnja)
• Catalan: bullícia f
• Finnish: vilinä, vilske, kihinä, touhu (fi), hyörintä (fi), säpinä
• French: affairement (fr) m, branlebas (fr) m, remue-ménage (fr) m
• German: Hektik (de)
• Italian: viavai m, andirivieni (it) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latvian: rosme f, možums m
• Maori: pōwaiwai
• Norman: tinné m
• Portuguese: freneticidade (pt) f
• Romanian: freamăt (ro)
• Russian: переполо́х (ru) m (perepolóx), суета́ (ru) f (sujetá), сумато́ха (ru) f (sumatóxa)
• Walloon: rimowe-manaedje (wa) m

cover to protect and hide the back panel of a computer or other office machine

• Finnish: taustalevy
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

frame worn underneath a woman's skirt

• Bulgarian: турнюр m (turnjur)
• Dutch: cul de Paris m
• Finnish: turnyyri (fi)
• French: tournure (fr) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: バッスル (bassuru)
• Romanian: turnură (ro) f
• Spanish: polisón m

Verb

bustle (third-person singular simple present bustles, present participle bustling, simple past and past participle bustled)

1. To move busily and energetically with fussiness (often followed by about).

   The commuters bustled about inside the train station.

   • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 3, member 6:

     I was once so mad to bussell abroad, and seek about for preferment […].

2. To teem or abound (usually followed by with); to exhibit an energetic and active abundance (of a thing).

   The train station was bustling with commuters.

Synonyms

• (to move busily): flit, hustle, scamper, scurry
• (to exhibit an energetic abundance): abound, brim, bristle, burst, crawl, swell, teem

Translations

to move busily and energetically

• Bulgarian: суетя се (suetja se)
• Catalan: trafeguejar (ca)
• Finnish: kiiruhtaa (fi)
• French: s'affairer (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: hasten (de)
• Italian: affaccendarsi
• Maori: toritori
• Russian: суетиться (ru) (sujetitʹsja)

to teem or abound (with)

• Bulgarian: гъмжа (bg) (gǎmža)
• Finnish: kihistä, vilistä (fi)
• French: s’activer (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: кишеть (ru) (kišetʹ), изобиловать (ru) (izobilovatʹ)
• Spanish: abundar (es)

Anagrams

• bluest, bluets, butles, sublet, subtle