bust

bust¹ (b

st)

1. A sculpture representing a person's head, shoulders, and upper chest.

a. A woman's bosom.

b. The human chest.

[French buste, from Italian busto, possibly from Latin bustum, sepulchral monument.]

bust² (b

st)

v. bust·ed, bust·ing, busts

v.tr.

1. Slang

a. To smash or break, especially forcefully: "Mr. Luger worked it with a rake, busting up the big clods, making a flat brown table" Garrison Keillor.

b. To render inoperable or unusable: busted the vending machine by putting in foreign coins.

2. To cause to come to an end; break up: an attempt to bust the union.

3. To break or tame (a horse).

4. To cause to become bankrupt or short of money: "Too often, the promise of a high-tech design leads to a weapon that busts the budget" Business Week.

5. Slang To reduce in rank. See Synonyms at demote.

6. To hit; punch.

7. Slang

a. To place under arrest.

b. To make a police raid on.

v.intr.

1. Slang

a. To undergo breakage; become broken.

b. To burst; break: "Several companies have threatened to bust out of their high-wage contracts by the dubious technique of declaring bankruptcy" Washington Post.

2. To become bankrupt or short of money.

3. Games To lose at blackjack by exceeding a score of 21.

1. A failure; a flop: "The home-style bean curd is a bust, oily and rubbery" Mark and Gail Barnett.

2. A state of bankruptcy.

3. A time or period of widespread financial depression: "Bankers consider the region's diversified economy to be good protection against a possible real estate bust" American Banker.

4. A punch; a blow.

5. A spree: a fraternity beer bust.

6. Slang

a. An arrest.

b. A raid.

Idiom:

bust (one's) butt/ass Vulgar Slang

To make a strenuous effort; work very hard.

[Variant of burst.]

bust ¹

Noun

1. a woman's bosom

2. a sculpture of the head, shoulders, and upper chest of a person [Italian busto a sculpture]

bust ² Informal

Verb

[busting, busted] or bust

1. to burst or break

2. (of the police) to raid or search (a place) or arrest (someone)

3. US & Canad to demote in military rank

Adjective

1. broken

2. go bust to become bankrupt [from burst]

ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms

Noun	1.	bust - a complete failure; "the play was a dismal flop" fizzle, flop failure - an event that does not accomplish its intended purpose; "the surprise party was a complete failure" bomb, dud, turkey - an event that fails badly or is totally ineffectual; "the first experiment was a real turkey"; "the meeting was a dud as far as new business was concerned"
	2.	bust - the chest of a woman female chest female body - the body of a female human being chest, pectus, thorax - the part of the human torso between the neck and the diaphragm or the corresponding part in other vertebrates
	3.	bust - a sculpture of the head and shoulders of a person sculpture - a three-dimensional work of plastic art
	4.	bust - an occasion for excessive eating or drinking; "they went on a bust that lasted three days" binge, tear, bout revel, revelry - unrestrained merrymaking piss-up - vulgar expression for a bout of heavy drinking
Verb	1.	bust - ruin completely; "He busted my radio!" break fall apart, wear out, bust, wear, break - go to pieces; "The lawn mower finally broke"; "The gears wore out"; "The old chair finally fell apart completely" break down - cause to fall or collapse ruin, destroy - destroy completely; damage irreparably; "You have ruined my car by pouring sugar in the tank!"; "The tears ruined her make-up" bust up, wrack, wreck - smash or break forcefully; "The kid busted up the car"
	2.	bust - search without warning, make a sudden surprise attack on; "The police raided the crack house" raid attack, assail - launch an attack or assault on; begin hostilities or start warfare with; "Hitler attacked Poland on September 1, 1939 and started World War II"; "Serbian forces assailed Bosnian towns all week"
	3.	bust - separate or cause to separate abruptly; "The rope snapped"; "tear the paper" rupture, tear, snap disunite, separate, part, divide - force, take, or pull apart; "He separated the fighting children"; "Moses parted the Red Sea" lacerate - cut or tear irregularly rend, rip, rive, pull - tear or be torn violently; "The curtain ripped from top to bottom"; "pull the cooked chicken into strips" rip up, shred, tear up - tear into shreds
	4.	bust - go to pieces; "The lawn mower finally broke"; "The gears wore out"; "The old chair finally fell apart completely" fall apart, wear out, wear, break decay, dilapidate, crumble - fall into decay or ruin; "The unoccupied house started to decay" fray, frazzle - wear away by rubbing; "The friction frayed the sleeve" bust, break - ruin completely; "He busted my radio!"
	5.	bust - break open or apart suddenly and forcefully; "The dam burst" burst shatter - break into many pieces; "The wine glass shattered" come apart, break, split up, fall apart, separate - become separated into pieces or fragments; "The figurine broke"; "The freshly baked loaf fell apart"
Adj.	1.	bust - lacking funds; "`skint' is a British slang term" broke, skint, stone-broke, stony-broke poor - having little money or few possessions; "deplored the gap between rich and poor countries"; "the proverbial poor artist living in a garret"