bustler (busler)

One who bustles; an active, stirring person. Forgive him, then, thou bustler in concerns Of little worth. Cowper , Task, vi. 952. IMG:content-2797.png:[blocks in formation] bustuoust, bustust, bustwyst. See bois to us. busy (biz'i), a. [ME. bisy, bysy, besy, bus i, busy, etc., AS. bysig, busy, occupied (> bysgu, occupation, labor, toil, affliction), = D. bezig = 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 i, as in the phonetically parallel dizzy, Shak., T. of the S., v. 2. I write of melancholy, by being busy to avoid melancholy. 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 care full and diligent in their own matters, not curious and busey in other mens 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, Pro me the us Unbound, i. 4. Pertaining or due to energetic action; manifesting 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, 1. 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. J. Beaumont , Psyche, ii. 45. Then Mathematics were my buisy book. 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 tive, Busy, Officious , etc. (see active ); diligent, a iduous, hard-working; meddling, intriguing. busy (biz'i), v . t .; pret. and pp. busied , ppr. busying. [ 734 bysigan, bysgian, occupy, employ, trouble (= D. bezigen, use, employ), 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 nece ary concernments. Milton , Eikon ok las tes, xii. busybody (biz'i-bod i), n.; pl. busybodies (-iz). [ A busybody who had been properly punished for running into danger without any call of duty. Macaulay , Hist. Eng., xvi.