bustle 
bustle 1 (bus'l), ii. [< bustle 1 , v.~\ Activity with 
noise and agitation ; stir ; hurry-scurry. 
A strange bustle and disturbance in the world. South. 
Seldom he varied feature, hue, or muscle, 
And could be very busy without bnxtle. 
Byron, Don Juan, viii. 39. 
They seem to require nothing more to enliven them 
than crowds and bnxtle, with a pipe and a cup of coffee. 
E. If. Lane, Modern Egyptians, II. 263. 
bustle 2 (bus'l), n. [Origin unknown ; supposed 
by some to stand for *buskle, a dim. (and an- 
other application) of busk, q. v. Cf. bustle, 
var. of bustle 1 -.] A pad, cushion, curved frame- 
work of wire, or the like, worn by women on 
the back part of the body below the waist for 
the purpose of improving the figure, causing 
the folds of the skirt to hang gracefully, and 
preventing the skirt from interfering with the 
feet in walking. 
Whether she was pretty, whether she wore much bustle. 
Dickens. 
bustler (bus'ler), n. One who bustles; an ac- 
tive, stirring person. 
Forgive him, then, thou bustler in concerns 
Of little worth. Cowper, Task, vi. 952. 
bustling (bus'lmg), p. a. [Ppr. of bustle*, v.'] 
Moving actively with noise or agitation ; briskly 
active or stirring: as, "a busy, bustling time," 
Crabbe, The Newspaper. 
Sir Henry Vane was a busy and bustling man. 
Clarendon. 
The table d'hote was going on, and a gracious, bustling, 
talkative landlady welcomed me. 
H. James, Jr., Little Tour, p. 248. 
bustof (bus'to), . [It., also Sp. and Pg., abust : 
see bust.] Abust; a statue. [Rare.] 
The busto moulders, and the deep cut marble, 
Unsteady to the steel, gives up its charge. 
Blair, The Grave. 
bustuoust, bustust, bustwyst. See boistous. 
busy (biz i), a. [< ME. bisy, bysy, besy, busi, 
busy, etc., < AS. bysig, busy, occupied (>bysgu, 
occupation, labor, toil, affliction), = D. beziff 
= LG. besig, busy, active. Further affinities 
doubtful. The spelling with u is due to the 
frequent use of that letter in ME. with its F. 
sound, the same as the sound of AS. y, for 
which it was often substituted. The proper E. 
representative of AS. y is , as in the phoneti- 
cally parallel dizzy, < AS. dysig.] 1. Actively 
or attentively engaged ; closely occupied physi- 
cally or mentally ; intent upon that which one 
is doing ; not at leisure : opposed to idle. 
My mistress sends you word 
That she is busy, and she cannot come. 
Shak., T. of the S., v. 2. 
I write of melancholy, by being busy to avoid melan- 
choly. Burton, Anat. of Mel., To the Reader, p. 18. 
As a boy he [Clive] had been too idle, as a man he soon 
became too busy, for literary pursuits. 
Macaulay, Lord Clive. 
2. Active in that which does not concern one ; 
meddling with or prying into the affairs of 
others; officious; importunate. 
They be carefull and diligent in their own matters, not 
curious and busey in other meus affaires. 
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 35. 
On meddling monkey, or on busy ape. 
Shak., M. N. D., ii. 2. 
3. In constant or energetic action; rapidly 
moving or moved; diligently used: as, busy 
hands or thoughts. 
With busy hammers closing rivets up. 
Shak., Hen. V., iv. (cho.). 
The music-stirring motion of its soft and busy feet. 
Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, i. 
4. Pertaining or due to energetic action; mani- 
festing constant or rapid movement. 
I heard a busie bustling. 
Spenser, Shep. Cal., March. 
Tower'd cities please us then, 
And the busy hum of men. 
Milton, L'Allegro, I 118. 
5. Requiring constant attention, 'as a task. 
[Rare.] 
He hath first a busy work to bring his parishioners to a 
right faith. Latimer, Sermon of the Plough. 
Then Mathematics were my buisy book. 
J. Beaumont, Psyche, ii. 45. 
6. Filled with active duties or employment. 
To-morrow is a busy day. Shak., Rich. III., v. 3. 
7t. Careful; anxious. Chaucer. =Syn. 1 and 2 Ac- 
live, Busy, Officious, etc. (see active) ; diligent, assiduous, 
jura-working ; meddling, intriguing. 
busy (biz'i), ('. t. ; pret. and pp. busied, ppr. 
busying. [< ME. busien, bisien, besien, < AS. 
734 
bysigan, byttgian, occupy, employ, trouble (= D. 
bezigen, use, employ), < bysig, busy: see busy, 
a.] To employ with constant attention; keep 
engaged ; make or keep busy : as, to busy one s 
self with books. 
Be it thy course, to busy giddy minds 
With foreign quarrels. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iv. 4. 
All other Nations, from whom they could expect aide, 
were busied to the utmost in their own necessary concern- 
ments. Milton, Eikonoklastes, xii. 
busybody (biz'i-bod"i), re. ; pi. bust/bodies (-iz). 
[< busy + body, person.] A meddling person; 
one who officiously or impertinently concerns 
himself with the affairs of others. 
A busybody who had been properly punished for running 
into danger without any call of duty. 
Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xvi. 
busybodyism (biz'i-bod"i-izm), n. [< busybody 
+ -ism.] The habit of busying one's self about 
other people's affairs. [Rare.] 
The most common effect of this mock evangelical spirit, 
especially with young women, is self-inflation and busif- 
bodyism. Coleridge, Table-Talk. 
busyness (biz'i-nes), n. [< busy + -ness. Cf. 
business, the same word with altered pron. and 
meaning.] The state of being busy or actively 
employed. See business, 1. [Now rare.] 
Grant. . . is entirely ignorantof the arts by which pop- 
ularity is preserved and a show of busyness kept up by 
them. The Nation, Sept. 18, 1869, p. 224. 
busytyt, [Early mod. E., < busy + -ty.] 
Busyness. 
but 1 (but), adv., prep., and conj. [Early mod. 
E. also bot, bate; < ME. but, bot, bute, bate, buten, 
bo ten, with a short vowel; parallel with the 
equiv. early mod. E. bout (esp. as a prep. , with- 
out; cf. about, the same word with a prefix: 
see bout 2 , and bouts = about), < ME. bout, boute, 
bouten, earlier bute, buten, retaining the orig. 
long vowel, < AS. butan, buton, poet, be-utan, 
ONorth. buta (= OS. biutan, butan = OFries. 
buten, buta, bota = MLG. buten, but, LG. buten 
= D. buiten = OHG. biuzan), without, outside, 
< be, by, with, + fttaii, out, orig. from without, 
< ut, out : see be- 2 and out, and cf . the correla- 
tive bin 2 , = Sc. ben, within (< be- 2 + jl), and 
about, above, which also contain the element 
be- 2 .] I. adv. If. Outside; without; out. 
Hit was swuthe mouchel scome [a very great shame] 
That scholde a queue beoll 
King in thisse londe, 
Heora sunen beon buten [var. boute]. Layamon, 1. 159. 
2. In or to the outer room of a cottage having 
a but and a ben: as, he was but a few minutes 
ago; he gaed but just now. [Scotch.] 3. 
Only ; merely ; just. See III. 
II. prep. If. Outside of; without. 2f. To 
the outside of. 3. To the outer apartment of : 
as, gae but the house. [Scotch.] 4. With- 
out ; not having ; apart from. 
Surume [sc. weren] al bute fet [without feet]. 
Old Eng. Homilies (ed. Morris), 1st ser., p. 43. 
Of fassoun fair, but feir [without equal]. Dunbar. 
Touch not a cat but a glove. Scotch proverb. 
5. Except; besides; more than. [In this use gen- 
erally preceded by a clause containing or implying a nega- 
tion, and not easily separable from the conjunctional use, 
under which most of the examples fall. The conjunction, 
on the other hand in some elliptical constructions assumes 
a prepositional phase, and iu other constructions an ad- 
verbial phase. See below.] 
III. conj. 1 . Except ; unless : after a clause 
containing or implying a negation, and intro- 
ducing the following clause, in which (the verb 
being usually omitted because implied in the 
preceding clause) but before the noun (subject 
or object of the omitted verb) comes to be re- 
garded as a preposition governing the noun. 
Nis [ne is, it, not] buten an god [nom.]. 
Legend of St. Katherine, p. 367. 
Ther nis bot a godd [uom.]. 
Legend of St. Katherine, p. 282. 
Nis non other bute he [nom.]. 
Old Eng. Homilies (ed. Morris), 2d ser., p. 109. 
Nefede [had not] he boten anne sune [ace.]. 
Layamon, I. 5. 
Away went Gilpin who but he ? Cowper, John Gilpin. 
The clause introduced by but (the apparent object of the 
quasi-preposition) may be a single word, an infinitive or 
prepositional phrase, or a clause with that. 
For albeit that pain was ordeined of God for the pun- 
ishment of sinnes (for which they that neuer can now but 
sinne, can neuer be but euer punished in hel), yet in this 
world . . . the punishment by tribulation . . . serueth 
ordinarily for a meane of amendment. 
Sir T. More, Cumfort against Tribulation (1573), fol. 11. 
Noe lawes of man (according to the straight rule of right) 
are just, but as in regard to the evills which they prevent. 
Spenser, State of Ireland. 
I cannot choose but weep to see him. 
Beau, and Fl., King and No King, iii. 3. 
t go kiss him, 
B. Jonson, Volpone, iii. 6. 
but 
The wedding guest he beat his breast, 
Yet he cannot choose but hear. 
Coleridge, Ancient Mariner. 
No war ought ever to be undertaken but under circum- 
stances which render all interchange of courtesy between 
the combatants impossible. 
Macaulay, Mitford's Hist. Greece. 
That but for this our souls were free, 
And but for that our lives were blest. 
O. W. Holmes, What we all Think. 
By ellipsis of the subject of the clause introduced by but 
in this construction, but becomes equivalent to that . . . 
not or who . . . not. 
There is none soe badd, Eudoxus, but shall finde some to 
favoure his doinges. Spenser, State of Ireland. 
No voice exempt, no voice but well could join 
Melodious part. Milton, P. L., iii. 370. 
Hardly a cavalier in the land but would have thought it 
a reproach to remain behind. 
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 24. 
What will but felt the fleshly screen? 
Browning, Last Ride Together. 
In this construction the negative, being implied in but, 
came to be omitted, especially in connection with the 
verb be, in the principal clause, the construction "There 
is not but one God," as in the first example, becoming 
"There is but one God," leaving but as a quasi-adverb, 
'only, merely, simply.' This use is also extended to con- 
structions not originally negative. 
If God would giue the goodes only to good men, than 
would folke take occasion to serue him but for them. 
Sir T. More, Cumfort against Tribulation (1573), fol. 35. 
If they kill us, we shall but die. . 2 Ki. vii. 4. 
I am, my" lord, but as my betters are, 
That led me hither. Shale., 2 Hen. IV., iv. 3. 
Do but go kiss him, 
Or touch him but. 
But form'd, and fight ! but born, and then rebel ! 
Quarles, Emblems, iii. 6. 
For alms are but the vehicle of prayer. 
Dryden, Hind and Panther, 1. 1400. 
How happy I should be if I could tease her into loving 
me, though but a little ! 
Sheridan, School for Scandal, iii. 1. 
Once, and but once, this [Bacon's] course of prosperity 
was for a moment interrupted. Macaulay, Lord Bacon. 
Against his sharp steel lightnings 
Stood the Suliote but to die. Whittier, The Hero. 
To the last two constructions, respectively, belong the 
idioms " I cannot but hope that," etc., and "I can but hope 
that, " etc. The former has suffered ellipsis of the principal 
verb in the first clause : " I cannot do anything but hope," 
or " anything else than hope," or " otherwise than hope," 
etc., implying constraint, in that there is an alternative 
which one is mentally unable or reluctant to accept, but 
being equivalent to otherwise than. The latter ; "I can 
but hope that," etc., has suffered further ellipsis of the 
negative, and, though historically the same as the former, 
is idiomatically different: "I can only hope that," etc., 
implying restraint, in that there is no alternative or op- 
portunity of action, but being equivalent to only, not 
otherwise than, or no more than. 
I cannot but remember such things were, 
That were most precious to me. Shak., Macbeth, iv. 3. 
I cannot but 
Applaud your scorn of injuries. 
Beau, and Fl., Laws of Candy, iii. 2. 
They cannot but testify of Truth. 
Milton, Church-Government, Pref., ii. 
I cannot but sympathize with every one I meet that is 
in affliction. Addison, A Friend of Mankind. 
He could but write in proportion as he read, and empty 
his commonplace as fast only as he filled it. Scott. 
Yet he could not but acknowledge to himself that there 
was something calculated to impress awe, ... in the sud- 
den appearances and vanishings ... of the masque. 
De Quincey. 
In an interrogative sentence implying a negative answer, 
can but is equivalent to cannot but in a declarative sen- 
tence. 
Why, who can but believe him ? he does swear 
So earnestly, that if it were not true, 
The gods would not endure him. 
Beau, and Fl., Philaster, iii. 1. 
After doubt, or doubt not, and other expressions involving 
a negative, but may be used as after other negatives, but 
that being often used pleonastic-ally for that. 
I doubt not but I shall find them tractable enough. 
Shak., Pericles, iv. 6. 
My lord, I neither can nor will deny 
But that I know them. Shale., All's Well, v. 3. 
I doubt not but there may be many wise Men in all 
Places and Degrees, but am sorry the effects of Wisdom 
are so little seen among us. Milton, Free Commonwealth. 
I do not doubt but England is at present as polite a na- 
tion as any in the world. Steele, Spectator, No. 6. 
There is no question btit the King of Spain will reform 
most of the abuses. Addison, Travels in Italy. 
Hence the use of but with if or that, forming a unitary 
phrase but \f, 'unless, if not,' but that, 'except that, un- 
less ' (these phrases having of course also their analytical 
meaning, with but in its adversative use). 
Gramer for gurles I gon furste to write, 
And beot hem with a baleys but gif the! wolde lernen. 
Fieri: riiiwinan (A), xi. 132. 
But if I have my wille, 
For derne love of thee, leman, I spille. 
Chauter, Miller's Tale, 1. 91. 
Lese the frateruete of the gilde for euere more, but if he 
haue grace. JSnglinh Glide (E. E. T. S.), p. 95. 
