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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
bustle
I.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a bustling port (=very busy)
▪ Until the 1870s, Port Albert was a bustling port.
a bustling resort (=lively and full of people)
▪ The hotel is right in the middle of this bustling resort.
busy/bustling
▪ The town was busy even in November.
hustle and bustle
▪ the hustle and bustle of the market place
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
about
▪ Servants, porters, farriers and fletchers bustled about.
▪ She was unprepared for it and her nervousness increased tenfold as she bustled about to get his tea.
▪ Gaveston bustled about in the darkness, found a tinder, and a cresset torch flared into life.
in
▪ The odd wrapped-up tourist bustles in from the street.
▪ Comrades bustled in and out, peering over his shoulder to offer suggestions as he polished sentences.
▪ When she'd gone, we were bustled in and raced up the stairs.
▪ Caroline had bustled in with some photocopies.
▪ Siegfried bustled in, muttered a greeting and began to pour his coffee.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A waitress bustles, the ambience hustles.
▪ Servants, porters, farriers and fletchers bustled about.
▪ She bustled to the dresser and tucked - I saw it - a small package deep inside the drawer.
▪ They bustled to and fro across the dock and swarmed on and off the ships.
II.noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A school-age child has trouble concentrating in the class-room because she is overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle.
▪ His solemnity contrasts with the calculating bustle of Ezra Cohen.
▪ Life was terribly hectic in the city, she thought, all hustle and bustle.
▪ She enjoyed all the hustle and bustle of people and music.
▪ The bustle of metropolitan commerce and tourism filled the streets.
▪ The ceaseless thrust and bustle came from something deep and primaeval in man.
▪ The streets and bars were deserted, and for once the incessant noise and bustle had abated.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Bustle

Bustle \Bus"tle\ (b[u^]s"s'l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Bustled (-s'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Bustling (-sl[i^]ng).] [Cf. OE. buskle, perh. fr. AS. bysig busy, bysg-ian to busy + the verbal termination -le; or Icel. bustla to splash, bustle.] To move noisily; to be rudely active; to move in a way to cause agitation or disturbance; as, to bustle through a crowd.

And leave the world for me to bustle in.
--Shak.

Bustle

Bustle \Bus"tle\, n. Great stir; agitation; tumult from stirring or excitement.

A strange bustle and disturbance in the world.
--South.

Bustle

Bustle \Bus"tle\, n. A kind of pad or cushion worn on the back below the waist, by women, to give fullness to the skirts; -- called also bishop, and tournure.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
bustle

"be active," 1570s (bustling "noisy or excited activity" is from early 15c.), frequentative of Middle English bresten "to rush, break," from Old English bersten (see burst (v.)), influenced by Old Norse buask "to make oneself ready" (see busk (v.)), or from busk (v.) via a frequentative form buskle. Related: Bustled; bustling; bustler.

bustle

"padding in a skirt," 1788, of uncertain origin, perhaps from German Buschel "bunch, pad," or it might be a special use of bustle (n.1) with reference to "rustling motion."\n\nBUSTLE. A pad stuffed with cotton, feathers, bran, &c., worn by ladies for the double purpose of giving a greater rotundity or prominence to the hips, and setting off the smallness of the waist.

[Bartlett, "Dictionary of Americanisms," 1848]

bustle

"activity, stir, fuss, commotion," 1630s, from bustle (v.).

Wiktionary
bustle

n. 1 An excited activity; a stir. 2 (context computing English) A cover to protect and hide the back panel of a computer or other office machine. 3 (context historical English) A frame worn underneath a woman's skirt, typically only protruding from the rear as opposed to the earlier more circular hoops. vb. 1 To move busily and energetically with fussiness (often followed by ''about''). 2 To teem or abound (usually followed by ''with''); to exhibit an energetic and active abundance (of a thing). ''See also'' '''bustle with'''.

WordNet
bustle
  1. n. a rapid bustling commotion [syn: hustle, flurry, ado, fuss, stir]

  2. a framework worn at the back below the waist for giving fullness to a woman's skirt

  3. v. move or cause to move energetically or busily; "The cheerleaders bustled about excitingly before their performance" [syn: bustle about, hustle]

Wikipedia
Bustle

A bustle is a type of framework used to expand the fullness or support the drapery of the back of a woman's dress, occurring predominantly in the mid-to-late 19th century. Bustles were worn under the skirt in the back, just below the waist, to keep the skirt from dragging. Heavy fabric tended to pull the back of a skirt down and flatten it. Thus, a woman's petticoated or crinolined skirt would lose its shape during everyday wear (from merely sitting down or moving about). The word "bustle" has become synonymous with the fashion to which the bustle was integral.

Bustle (disambiguation)

In English, bustle usually refers to a type of framework used to expand the fullness or support the drapery of the back of a woman's dress, popular during the mid-to-late 19th century.

Bustle also refers to:

  • Bustle (regalia), a traditional part of a Native American man's regalia worn during a dance exhibition or wachipi or pow wow
  • Bustle (magazine), an online women's magazine

See also

  • Bustle rack – a way of storing gear on tanks
Bustle (regalia)

The Native American bustle is a traditional part of a man's regalia worn during a dance exhibition or wachipi ( pow wow) and originates from the Plains region of the United States. In its modern form, the men's bustle is typically made of a string of eagle or hawk feathers attached to a backboard. Eagle and hawk feathers are sacred religious objects to Native American people and the possession of eagle and hawk feathers are protected by the eagle feather law (50 CFR 22).

There are several types of bustles, the modern one being in the shape of a U and the other, traditional bustle or "old-style" bustle, being circular. The dancer's style generally dictates the type and number of bustles worn. A typical traditional dancer wears a single bustle while fancy dancers generally wear two bustles, one attached to a belt above the buttocks and another attached to a harness on the back.

Bustle (magazine)

Bustle is an online US women's magazine founded in August 2013 by Bryan Goldberg.

It surpassed 10 million monthly unique visitors in July 2014, placing it ahead of rival women-oriented sites such as Refinery29, Rookie and xoJane; it had the second greatest number of unique visitors after Gawker's Jezebel.

Usage examples of "bustle".

Every day, top lawyers and accountants bustled in and out, hoping to catch the ear of the man who ruled this realm: Arthur Levitt, the SEC chairman.

The small bustle at the back of her gown caused the bronze-and-red-striped skirts of the dress to sway in an elegant, enticing manner that Ambrose was certain he could have studied for hours.

Tess took up the torn dress, an off-white satin gown with fine lace applique spilling over the shoulders into a free fall down the back, over the bustle, and along the edge of the train.

For the meat eaters, a number of giant baloneys were set to roasting whole on spits, to be turned and attentively basted with a grape-jelly glaze by once-quarrelsome kitchen staff while others made croutons from old bread, bustling about while the spinach thawed, singing along with the radio, which someone had mercifully re-tuned to a rock and roll station.

Still, as the human bartender bustled through the busy streets, sun hood up, squinting, he was bothered by that droid who had accosted him.

Bug had bustled her way to the front, basket held before her like a battering ram.

The apprentice dodged two thin women who bustled toward Beryal and him as if to separate them, then eased closer to Beryal.

Scall, the brewhouse held an air of arcane mystery, with the brewers bustling about between barrel, vat, and still, performing their strange alchemical arts.

Dobson led me up a narrow hall to a larger area in front where people bustled about in what appeared to be total confusion.

She bustled on down the hall, taffeta skirts crackling, and I moved glumly up the stairs.

ICU burst open and a small, attractive-in-a-hard-sort-of-way, bleached blonde nurse bustled toward him.

As the bronze bell rang in clear, high tones, people bustled out to see the excitement.

Within the fenced enclosure, people bustled about in comfortable overalls as they prepared the elevator car for its ascent.

After considering him attentively, I recognized in him a diligent getter-up of miscellaneous works, which bustled off well with the trade.

Thus while the busy dame bustled about the house or plied her spinning-wheel at one end of the piazza, honest Balt would sit smoking his evening pipe at the other, watching the achievements of a little wooden warrior who, armed with a sword in each hand, was most valiantly fighting the wind on the pinnacle of the barn.