Etymology: Variant of boist n. Compare buist n.¹, boost n.¹

Etymology: < (i) French buste upper part of the trunk (1356 in Middle French with reference to a painted portrait), sculpture representing a head and torso (1680), and its etymon (ii) Italian busto upper part of the human trunk, from the neck to the hips (1300–13), corset, bodice (1585; 1238 in plural le bustora in this sense), sculpture representing a human head and torso without arms (c1635), of uncertain origin; perhaps < classical Latin bustum funeral pyre, tomb (see bustal adj.), with assumed sense development via an unrecorded sense ‘memorial sculpture of the deceased’. Compare Old Occitan bust trunk of the body, Spanish busto sculpture of a human head and torso, upper part of the torso (late 16th cent.; probably < Italian), Portuguese busto funerary monument, sculpture of a human head and torso (18th cent.), a person's chest (19th cent.). Compare earlier busto n., and also busk n.³For a possible earlier example in a different meaning perhaps compare the following:1653 T. Urquhart tr. F. Rabelais 1st Bk. Wks. viii. 41 It [sc. a necklace] reached down to the very bust of the rising of his belly [Fr. à la boucque du hault ventre].Here, bust corresponds in Rabelais's original text to Middle French boucque , variant of bouche bouche n.¹, in la boucque du hault ventre the mouth (or upper opening) of the stomach, alluding to the practice described by Galen of wearing a necklace of green jasper over this part of the body in order to improve the health of the chest. However, this does not appear to be reflected in Urquhart's translation, and the intended sense of bust is unclear; an otherwise unrecorded sense ‘a swelling, protuberance’ of the present word has been suggested, although it may show a different and unrelated word (perhaps a specific sense of bust n.¹, denoting part of a doublet: compare Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Buist, Bust(e n.¹ sense 3; compare also quot. 1611 at busk n.³). In sense 2b after bustal adj. or classical Latin bustum funeral pyre, tomb.

Etymology: Originally a variant of burst n., now normally distinguished in form in the senses below. Compare bust v.²Sense 1 apparently shows an isolated early use, perhaps with reference to a natural mark on a horse, perhaps perceived as a burst of a different coloration, although it is possible that it may show a different word.

Etymology: < bust v.²

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps < an unattested Old English *bystan ( < an ablaut variant (zero-grade) of the same Germanic base as Old Icelandic beysta , Norwegian regional bøysta , bøsta , Old Swedish, Swedish bösta , Old Danish bøste , all in sense ‘to hit, beat, thrash’, ultimately probably showing a suffixed form of the same Germanic base as beat v.¹), or perhaps an expressive formation. Compare later baste v.³Compare also the rare 19th-cent. Scots (Aberdeenshire) bust to beat (perhaps a borrowing from a Scandinavian language; compare the Scandinavian forms listed above):1808 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. To bust, to beat, Aberd.

Etymology: Variant of burst v. The senses are comparable to those of break v. and burst v., but typically with more force.With use in sense 6b perhaps compare earlier bust v.¹ With use in sense 3 perhaps compare the following earlier example, which alludes to the card game ombre, although the intended sense is not entirely clear:1719 C. Johnson Masquerade iii. i. 37 Just before I sat down with you to Picquet, I was busted six Deals successively.