Nearby Words
Synonyms

busing

[buhs-ing] Origin

bus·ing

[buhs-ing]
noun
the transporting of public-school students by bus to schools outside their neighborhoods, especially as a means of achieving racial balance.
Also, bus·sing.


Origin:
1885–90; bus1 (v.) + -ing1, spelled irregular with single s, perhaps to avoid association with buss1

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Busing is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
Dictionary.com Unabridged

bus

1[buhs] noun, plural bus·es, bus·ses, verb, bused or bussed, bus·ing or bus·sing.
noun
1.
a large motor vehicle, having a long body, equipped with seats or benches for passengers, usually operating as part of a scheduled service; omnibus.
2.
a similar horse-drawn vehicle.
3.
a passenger automobile or airplane used in a manner resembling that of a bus.
4.
any vehicle operated to transport children to school.
5.
a low, movable filing cabinet.
EXPAND
6.
Electricity. Also called bus bar, bus·bar [buhs-bahr] . a heavy conductor, often made of copper in the shape of a bar, used to collect, carry, and distribute powerful electric currents, as those produced by generators.
7.
Computers. a circuit that connects the CPU with other devices in a computer.
COLLAPSE
verb (used with object)
8.
to convey or transport by bus: to bus the tourists to another hotel.
9.
to transport (pupils) to school by bus, especially as a means of achieving racial integration.
verb (used without object)
10.
to travel on or by means of a bus: We bused to New York on a theater trip.

Origin:
1825–35; short for omnibus; (def. 6) short for omnibus bar

bussed, bust.

bus

2[buhs]
verb (used without object), verb (used with object), bused or bussed, bus·ing or bus·sing.
to work or act as a busboy or busgirl: She bused for her meals during her student days.

Origin:
1830–40; back formation from busboy
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To busing
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

bus
1832, abbreviation of omnibus (q.v.). The English word is simply a Latin dative plural ending. The verb meaning "transport students to integrate schools" is first recorded 1961. Verb meaning "clear tables in a restaurant" is first attested 1913, probably from the four-wheeled
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cart used to carry dishes. Related: Bused; busing. To miss the bus, in the figurative sense, is from 1915. Busman's holiday "leisure time spent doing what one does for a living" (1893) is probably a reference to London bus drivers riding the buses on their days off.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

busing definition


The movement of students from one neighborhood to a school in another neighborhood, usually by bus and usually to break down de facto segregation of public schools.

Note: A Supreme Court decision in 1971 ruling that busing was an appropriate means of achieving integrated schools (see integration) was received with widespread, sometimes violent, resistance, particularly among whites into whose neighborhoods and schools black children were to be bused. In 1991, the Court ruled that school districts could end busing if they had done everything “practicable” to eliminate the traces of past discrimination.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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