bus

plural buses · plural busses · alternative archaic 'bus

1. automotiveA motor vehicle for transporting large numbers of people along roads.

   I'm on the bus.

   1 more example

   I can't read on the bus because I get sick.

   Synonyms: autobus, coach, loser cruiser, motorbus, motorcoach, omnibus, Shillibeer

   1. CanadaUSautomotiveA coach, a bus used for long travels.

      Synonyms: autobus, coach, loser cruiser, motorbus, motorcoach, omnibus, Shillibeer

2. UKdatedAny motorized vehicle, such as a motorbike or car.

   “Excuse me,” said the stranger, who turned out to be a youth in motorcycling kit, “but could you give me a hand with my bus?”

   1927, Dorothy Sayers, Unnatural Death

   1 more example

   It had to be something with only two cylinders, if the whole ignition was to be put out of action with one needle: that is, a Morgan, a Belsize-Bradshaw, or a motorbike. He probably avoided the bike on the grounds of exposure to weather, and chose the Morgan as the next most handy and numerous two-cylinder ’bus.

   1932, Dorothy Sayers, Have His Carcase

3. businessAn electrical conductor or interface serving as a common connection for two or more circuits or components.

   Synonyms: busbar, digit trunk, electrical bus

4. Part of a MIRV missile, having on-board motors used to deliver the warhead to a target.
5. slangmedical industryAn ambulance.
6. slanggovernmentAn aeroplane.
7. computingA network topology with each computer connected to a single cable.

present singular third person buses · present singular third person busses · participle present busing · participle present bussing · participle past bused · past bused · participle past bussed · past bussed

1. transitiveautomotiveTo transport via a motor bus.

   The ANC has accused the IFP of bussing in voters from other wards to vote during the recent Newcastle Municipality by-election won by the IFP.

   2024 March 14, Clive Ndou, “ANC set to open case against ‘ghost IFP voters’”, in The Witness, archived from the original on 10 Feb 2026

   2 more examples

   Because the new language school of Fu Jen University in the nearby city of Hsinchu was not yet completed, we were bused with other aspiring students of Chinese language to a farming village called Kuanhsi (Guanxi: West Pass), nestled against the tea growing hills of Hsinchu county.

   1999, Michael Saso, Velvet Bonds: The Chinese Family, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page ix

   Machine guns are the most effective form of ‘election campaigning’, but the occupiers appear to also be bussing in ‘voters’ from the Russian Federation, and ‘registering total strangers in the homes of people forced to flee after the Russian invasion.

   2024 March 13, Halya Coynash, “Russians with machine guns ensure occupied Ukraine ‘votes’ for Putin”, in Human Rights in Ukraine. The Information Portal of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, archived from the original on 06 Aug 2024

2. UStransitiveautomotiveTo transport students to school, often to a more distant school for the purposes of achieving racial integration.

   But if you ask me to bus my children / I hope the cops take down your name

   1966, Phil Ochs, “Love Me, I'm a Liberal”, in Phils Ochs in Concert

   1 more example

   ...to strike down Detroit's federal court order to bus students across school district lines for the purpose of desegregation and therefore nullify many busing programs throughout the country.

   2008, Ashley R. Holm, Racial Differences in Student Engagement and Attainment: A Study of Topeka High School, 1939--1984, ProQuest, →ISBN, page 23

3. intransitiveautomotiveTo travel by bus.

present singular third person buses · present singular third person busses · participle present busing · participle present bussing · participle past bused · past bused · participle past bussed · past bussed

1. UStransitivefood serviceTo clear meal remains from.

   He bussed tables as the restaurant emptied out.

   1 more example

   He was hired to bus tables, but after a few incidents they moved him to the kitchen.

   2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 13

2. USintransitivefood serviceTo work at clearing the remains of meals from tables or counters; to work as a busboy.

   He’s been bussing for minimum wage.