bustle

plural bustles

1. countableuncountableAn excited activity; a stir.First known use early 17th c.

   the hum and bustle; a din and bustle

   5 more examples

   the whirl and bustle of a large metropolis

   […]we are, perhaps, all the while flattering our natural Indolence, which, hating the Buſtle of the World and Drudgery of Buſineſs, ſeeks a Pretext of Reaſon, to give itſelf a full and uncontroul'd Indulgence.

   1748, [David Hume], “Essay V. Sceptical Solution of These Doubts.”, in Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, part I, page 70

   In the midſt of all this buſtle, I was ſtruck with the appearance of a large bevy of beauties and women of the firſt fashion, who with all the perfect confidence of good breeding, inſhrined themſelves in the ſeveral temples dedicated to the Cyprian Venus[.]

   1755, Adam Fitz-Adam, The World, number CXXI, London, page 789

   My father was in the meantime overjoyed and in the bustle of preparation only recognized in the melancholy of his niece the diffidence of a bride.

   1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC

   As the sun ascends to his meridian, the hum and bustle gradually decline; at the height of noon there is a pause.

   1832, [Washington Irving], The Alhambra: A Series of Tales and Sketches of the Moors and Spaniards. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Philadelphia, Pa.: [Henry Charles] Carey & [Isaac] Lea, →OCLC

   Synonyms: ado, hustle

2. countablecomputingA cover to protect and hide the back panel of a computer or other office machine.
3. countablehistoricalA frame worn underneath a woman's skirt, typically only protruding from the rear as opposed to the earlier more circular hoops.First known use late 18th c.

   A grotesque-looking lady wearing a bustle (Anna mentally undressed the woman, and was appalled at her hideousness), and a little girl laughing affectedly ran down the platform.

   1901 [1878], chapter 31, in Constance Garnett, transl., Anna Karenina, translation of Анна Каренина (Anna Karenina) by Leo Tolstoy, part 7

   1 more example

   All the portraits that hang on the walls of the living room are, I realize, of my mother's family: miniatures of her great-aunts in Victorian bustles and elaborate feathered hats; a gilt-framed oil of her great-great-great-uncle as a boy in pastoral England, wearing a gold riding coat over white jodhpurs and sitting astride a white steed, a King Charles spaniel yapping at them from the foreground of the canvas.

   2006, Peter Godwin, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa

   Synonyms: tournure

4. UKobsoleteslanguncountableMoney; cash.

   Why the old clerical's turned coper—a new way of raising the wind——letting his friends down easy—gave you a good dinner, I suppose, Sir John, and took this method of drawing the bustle for it: an old trick of the reverend's.

   1825, Charles Molloy Westmacott, The English Spy, page 236

present singular third person bustles · participle present bustling · participle past bustled · past bustled

1. To move busily and energetically with fussiness (often followed by about).

   The commuters bustled about inside the train station.

   1 more example

   I was once so mad to bussell abroad, and seek about for preferment […].

   1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 3, member 6

   Synonyms: flit, hustle, scamper, scurry

2. To teem or abound (usually followed by with); to exhibit an energetic and active abundance (of a thing).

   The train station was bustling with commuters.

   Synonyms: abound, brim, bristle, burst, crawl, swell, teem

3. transitiveTo push around, to importune.

   Don’t bustle her or fuss or snatch: / A suitor looking at his watch / Is not a posture that persuades / Willing, much less reluctant maids.

   1981, A. D. Hope, “His Coy Mistress to Mr. Marvell”, in A Book of Answers

plural Bustles

1. A surname from German.