Busy \Bus"y\ (b[i^]z"z[y^]), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Busied
(b[i^]z"z[i^]d); p. pr. & vb. n. Busying.] [AS. bysgian.]
To make or keep busy; to employ; to engage or keep engaged;
to occupy; as, to busy one's self with books.
[1913 Webster]
Be it thy course to busy giddy minds
With foreign quarrels. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Busy \Bus"y\ (b[i^]z"z[y^]), a. [OE. busi, bisi, AS. bysig; akin
to D. bezig, LG. besig; cf. Skr. bh[=u]sh to be active,
busy.]
1. Engaged in some business; hard at work (either habitually
or only for the time being); occupied with serious
affairs; not idle nor at leisure; as, a busy merchant.
[1913 Webster]
Sir, my mistress sends you word
That she is busy, and she can not come. --Shak.
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2. Constantly at work; diligent; active.
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Busy hammers closing rivets up. --Shak.
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Religious motives . . . are so busy in the heart.
--Addison.
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3. Crowded with business or activities; -- said of places and
times; as, a busy street.
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To-morrow is a busy day. --Shak.
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4. Officious; meddling; foolish active.
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On meddling monkey, or on busy ape. --Shak.
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5. Careful; anxious. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
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Syn: Diligent; industrious; assiduous; active; occupied;
engaged.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
busy
adj 1: actively or fully engaged or occupied; "busy with her work";
"a busy man"; "too busy to eat lunch"; "the line is
busy" [ant: idle]
2: overcrowded or cluttered with detail; "a busy painting"; "a
fussy design" [syn: fussy]
3: intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner; "an interfering
old woman"; "bustling about self-importantly making an
officious nuisance of himself"; "busy about other people's
business" [syn: interfering, meddlesome, meddling, officious,
busybodied]
4: crowdedwith or characterized by much activity; "a very busy
week"; "a busy life"; "a busy street"; "a busy seaport"
5: (of facilities such as telephones or lavatories) unavailable
for use by anyone else or indicating unavailability;
(`engaged' is a British term for a busy telephone line);
"her line is busy"; "receptionists' telephones are always
engaged"; "the lavatory is in use"; "kept getting a busy
signal" [syn: engaged, in use(p)]
v : keep busy with; "She busies herself with her butterfly
collection" [syn: occupy]
[also: busied, busiest, busier]
WordNet (r) 2.0
102 Moby Thesaurus words for "busy":
absorb, active, arabesque, assiduous, at it, at work,
attend to business, baroque, burden, bustling, busybody, chichi,
complex, complicated, detailed, devote, diligent, divert, drive,
elaborate, elegant, employ, employed, energetic, engage, engaged,
engross, fag, fancy, fine, flamboyant, florid, flowery, forward,
frilly, full of business, fussy, hard at it, hard at work, hectic,
high-wrought, hustling, immerse, impertinent, in harness,
industrious, inquisitive, intricate, involve, involved, keep busy,
labored, lively, luxuriant, luxurious, meddlesome, meddling,
mind the store, moresque, nosy, occupied, occupy, officious,
on duty, on the go, on the hop, on the job, on the jump,
on the move, on the run, oppress, ornate, ostentatious, overdrive,
overelaborate, overelegant, overlabored, overtask, overtax,
overwork, overworked, overwrought, pass the time, picturesque,
presumptuous, pretty-pretty, prying, pushing, pushy, rich, rococo,
self-appointed, snoopy, soak, spend, spend the time, sweat, task,
tax, tied up, work, working
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
Busy, KY
Zip code(s): 41723
U.S. Gazetteer (1990)
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