<B>buster, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(U.S.) a person who breaks horses. <BR> <I>Ex. a bronco buster.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Informal.) as a form of address: <DD><B> a. </B>a small boy. <DD><B> b. </B>a fellow. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Informal.) something very big, striking, or remarkable of its kind. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Slang.) a dashing fellow. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Informal.) a frolic; spree. <DD><B> 6. </B>(Australian.) a southerly gale. </DL>
<A NAME="bustic">
<B>bustic, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a tropical American tree of the sapodilla family, having heavy, hard, dark-brown wood. </DL>
<A NAME="bustier">
<B>bustier, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a strapless top or dress. <BR> <I>Ex. Strapless dresses and tube tops (this year called "the bustier") are giving the bosom a comeback (Maclean's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="bustle">
<B>bustle</B> (1), verb, <B>-tled,</B> <B>-tling,</B> noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.i. </I> to be noisily busy and in a hurry. <BR> <I>Ex. The children bustled to get ready for the party. Let the great world bustle on (Emerson).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to make (someone) hurry or work hard. <BR> <I>Ex. The jolly old man bustled them out of the house (Charles Kingsley).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> noisy orexcited activity; commotion; fuss. <BR> <I>Ex. There was a great bustle as the children got ready for the party.</I> (SYN) ado. noun <B>bustler.</B> adv. <B>bustlingly.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="bustle">
<B>bustle</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(formerly) a pad, cushion, or small wire frame used to puff out the upper back part of a woman's skirt. <DD><B> 2. </B>a fullness at the back of a woman's skirt just below the waist as made by a bow or gathering of material </DL>
<B>busy, </B>adjective, <B>busier,</B> <B>busiest,</B> verb, <B>busied,</B> <B>busying.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>having plenty to do; not idle; working; active. <BR> <I>Ex. During the sale the clerks were very busy in the store.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>full of work or activity. <BR> <I>Ex. Main Street is a busy place. Holidays are a busy time.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>in use. <BR> <I>Ex. I tried to call her up, but her telephone line was busy.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>prying into other people's affairs; meddling. <BR> <I>Ex. That inquisitive woman is always busy.</I> (SYN) meddlesome, officious. <DD><B> 5. </B>overfilled with color, design, or ornament. <BR> <I>Ex. a busy wallpaper, a busy pattern.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to make busy; keep busy. <BR> <I>Ex. The bees busied themselves making honey.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to be busy. </DL>
<A NAME="busybody">
<B>busybody, </B>noun, pl. <B>-bodies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a person who pries into the affairs of others; meddler. </DL>
<A NAME="busyness">
<B>busyness, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> being busy. <BR> <I>Ex. No simple rules work in coping with preschoolers' busyness (Sidonie M. Gruenberg).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="busywork">
<B>busywork, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> work assigned or done merely to fill time or to appear to be busy. <BR> <I>Ex. It must be discouraging to learn what many have long suspected, that most of this busywork is in vain (Bulletin of Atomic Scientists).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="but">
<B>but</B> (1), conjunction, preposition, pronoun, adverb, noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>conj. </I> <B>1. </B>on the other hand; yet. <BR> <I>Ex. You may go, but you must come home at six o'clock. It rained, but I went anyway. Their hopes sank, but their courage did not.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>if not; unless; except that. <BR> <I>Ex. It never rains but it pours.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>other than; otherwise than. <BR> <I>Ex. We cannot choose but listen.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>except; save. <BR> <I>Ex. He is right but for one thing.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>that. <BR> <I>Ex. I don't doubt but he will come.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>that not. <BR> <I>Ex. He is not so sick but he can eat.</I> <DD><I>prep. </I> <B>1. </B>with the exception of; except; save. <BR> <I>Ex. Father works every day in the week but Sunday.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>other than. <BR> <I>Ex. No one answered but me.</I> <DD><I>pron. </I> who not; which not. <BR> <I>Ex. None visit him but are fed.</I> <DD><I>adv. </I> <B>1. </B>no more than; only; merely. <BR> <I>Ex. He is but a small boy. He was here but an hour ago. My love she's but a lassie (Robert Burns).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>only; not otherwise. <BR> <I>Ex. We can but try.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Informal.) definitely; positively. <BR> <I>Ex. Go to it but this instance.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> an objection or restriction. <BR> <I>Ex. Not so many buts, please.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>but me no buts,</B> offer no excuses or objections. <BR> <I>Ex. 'I heartily wish I could, but'--'Nay, but me no buts--I have set my heart upon it' (Scott).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>all but.</B> </I>See under <B>all.</B> <BR><I>expr. <B>but that,</B> </I>were it not that. <BR> <I>Ex. I should come in but that it is impossible.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>but what,</B> </I>except that; save. <BR> <I>Ex. Not but what many changes have been wrought (George du Maurier).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="but">
<B>but</B> (2), noun, adjective, adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Scottish.) <DD><I>noun </I> an outer room (kitchen) of a cottage, especially the outer of two (the inner being the <I>ben</I>). <DD><I>adj. </I> outside; outer; exterior. <DD><I>adv. </I> in the outer part of a cottage; outside. </DL>
<A NAME="butadiene">
<B>butadiene, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a colorless gas made from alcohol or petroleum byproducts, used in making synthetic rubber and as an anesthetic. <DD><B> 2. </B>its isomeric hydrocarbon. </DL>
<A NAME="butane">
<B>butane, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a colorless gas much used as a fuel. Butane is a hydrocarbon of the methane series and is found in two isomeric forms. It is produced in petroleum refining. </DL>
<A NAME="butanol">
<B>butanol, </B>noun. <B>=butyl alcohol.</B></DL>
<A NAME="butanone">
<B>butanone, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an inflammable ketone, used as a solvent, in the manufacture of plastics, and in organic synthesis. </DL>
<B>butch, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>Also, <B>butch haircut.</B> a haircut resembling but shorter than a crew cut. <BR> <I>Ex. His scalp showed clean and white ... where the sun's rays struck the dark butch of his bent head (Atlantic).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Slang.) a tough boy or man. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Slang.) a Lesbian who acts as a male. <DD><I>adj. </I> (Slang.) having the appearance of a male; behaving like a male. <BR> <I>Ex. a butch girl.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="butcher">
<B>butcher, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a person who cuts up and sells meat. <DD><B> 2. </B>a person whose work is killing animals for food. (SYN) slaughterer. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) a brutal killer; murderer. <BR> <I>Ex. O pardon me ... that I am meek and gentle with these butchers (Shakespeare).</I> (SYN) slayer. <DD><B> 4. </B>(U.S.) a vender; peddler, especially one who goes through trains selling magazines, candy, food and drink, and notions. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Informal, Figurative.) a person who botches or bungles. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to kill (animals) for food. (SYN) slaughter. <DD><B> 2. </B>to kill (people, wild animals, or birds) wholesale, needlessly, or cruelly. <BR> <I>Ex. ... Butchered to make a Roman holiday (Byron).</I> (SYN) massacre. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) to kill brutally; murder. (SYN) slay. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) to spoil by poor work. <BR> <I>Ex. Don't butcher that song by singing off key.</I> noun <B>butcherer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="butcherbird">
<B>butcherbird, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of various large shrikes that fasten their prey on thorns; northern shrike. </DL>
<A NAME="butcherblock">
<B>butcher-block, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> made of or patterned after a butcher's block, traditionally of unpainted laminated wood usually of varying colors. <BR> <I>Ex. An upper West Side restaurant ... features hanging plants, butcher-block tables (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="butcherknife">
<B>butcher knife,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a very sharp knife for cutting meat. </DL>
<A NAME="butcherly">
<B>butcherly, </B>adjective, adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> like or befitting a butcher. <DD><I>adv. </I> savagely; inhumanly. </DL>
<A NAME="butchersbroom">
<B>butcher's-broom, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a shrubby European evergreen of the lily family, with rigid, branched, and spiny leaflike stems bearing a greenish flower and red berries. </DL>
<A NAME="butchershop">
<B>butcher shop,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a place where meat is sold; butcher's place of business. </DL>
<A NAME="butchery">
<B>butchery, </B>noun, pl. <B>-eries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>brutal killing; murder in large numbers. <BR> <I>Ex. He began boasting of his fights, his cruelties, and his butcheries (Charles Kingsley).</I> (SYN) carnage. <DD><B> 2a. </B><B>=slaughterhouse.</B> <DD><B> b. </B><B>=butcher shop.</B> <DD><B> 3. </B>a butcher's work; cutting up and selling meat. </DL>
<A NAME="butene">
<B>butene, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of the three isomeric forms of butylene. </DL>
<A NAME="buteo">
<B>buteo, </B>noun, pl. <B>-teos.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a genus of broad-winged, soaring hawks that includes the red-tailed hawk; buzzard hawk. </DL>
<A NAME="butler">
<B>butler, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the head male servant in a household, in charge of the pantry and table service. <DD><B> 2. </B>the male servant in charge of the wines and liquors; wine steward. </DL>
<A NAME="butlerspantry">
<B>butler's pantry,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a small room between the kitchen and dining room, for use by a butler or serving maid. </DL>
<B>Butskellism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Especially British Politics.) a condition in which political opponents espouse the same or very similar policies. </DL>
