busk1
/bʌsk
/verb [no object]
1Play music in the street or other public place for voluntary donations: the group began by busking on Philadelphia sidewalks (as noun busking) years of busking had taught him how to hold a crowd...
- Now in the business for over 13 years, Kíla have come a long way since they started busking on the streets.
- Some songs were written while in high school; some were written while busking on the streets of Seattle.
- Musicians of all kinds were busking and selling their music on CD, also there were live puppet shows.
2 (busk it) informal Improvise.What seems to me disturbing is that they appear not really to have considered how to go about government at all before actually taking power, and have been busking it like their kickbacks depended on it....
- Goldsmith's opinion has the look and feel of a very clever lawyer busking it, with the best help he can get from some other non-authoritative lawyers.
- I ended up busking it because he was that desperate to do it.
Derivatives
busker
/ noun ...- But not all buskers believe the program will be a success.
- The launch was accompanied by a musical gathering in Museum Gardens, with independent buskers among those playing well-known songs to visitors.
- ‘There is definitely a shortage of quality buskers in Swindon,’ he said.
Origin
Mid 17th century: from obsolete French busquer 'seek', from Italian buscare or Spanish buscar, of Germanic origin. Originally in nautical use in the sense 'cruise about, tack', the term later meant 'go about selling things', hence 'go about performing' (mid 19th century).
Busking used to take place not in shopping centres but at sea. The word busk comes from Italian buscare or Spanish buscar, which both mean ‘to seek’. Its earliest use in English was in the nautical sense ‘cruise about, tack’. This became extended to mean ‘go about selling things’, and then, in the middle of the 19th century, ‘go about performing’.
Rhymes
busk2
/bʌsk/noun historical
A stay or stiffening strip for a corset.These busks are flexible and create a smooth curved front to the corset whilst providing very firm structure and closure....
- A corset busk consists of two long pieces of steel, one with steel knobs and the other one steel loops/eyes.
- I run a small cottage industry in Edinburgh, Scotland, hand making corset bones and corset busks.
Origin
Late 16th century: from French busc, from Italian busco 'splinter' (related to French bûche 'log'), of Germanic origin.