actively and attentively engaged in work or a pastime: busy with her work.
2.
not at leisure; otherwise engaged: He couldn't see any visitors because he was busy.
3.
full of or characterized by activity: a busy life.
4.
(of a telephone line) in use by a party or parties and not immediately accessible.
5.
officious; meddlesome; prying.
6.
ornate, disparate, or clashing in design or colors; cluttered with small, unharmonious details; fussy: The rug is too busy for this room.
–verb (used with object)
7.
to keep occupied; make or keep busy: In summer, he busied himself keeping the lawn in order.
[Origin: bef. 1000; ME busi, bisi, OE bysig, bisig; c. MLG, MD besich, D bezig]
—Synonyms 1. assiduous, hard-working. Busy,diligent,industrious imply active or earnest effort to accomplish something, or a habitual attitude of such earnestness. Busy means actively employed, temporarily or habitually: a busy official. Diligent suggests earnest and constant effort or application, and usually connotes fondness for, or enjoyment of, what one is doing: a diligent student. Industrious often implies a habitual characteristic of steady and zealous application, often with a definite goal: an industrious clerk working for promotion. 2. occupied, employed, working.
Sustaining much activity: a busy morning; a busy street.
Meddlesome; prying.
Being in use, as a telephone line.
Cluttered with detail to the point of being distracting: a busy design.
tr.v.
bus·ied, bus·y·ing, bus·ies
To make busy; occupy: busied myself preparing my tax return.
[Middle English bisi, busi, from Old English bysig.]
bus'i·ly adv., bus'y·ness n.
Synonyms: These adjectives suggest active or sustained effort to accomplish something. Busy, the most general, sometimes indicates constant and customary work or activity: a busy lawyer; a busy day. Industrious implies steady application that is often habitual or the result of a natural inclination: weeds pulled by an industrious gardener. Diligent suggests constant painstaking effort, often toward the achievement of a specific goal: a diligent detective. Assiduous emphasizes sustained application: assiduous efforts to learn French. Sedulous adds to assiduous the sense of persistent, thoroughgoing endeavor: "the sedulous pursuit of legal and moral principles" (Ernest van den Haag).
O.E. bisig "careful, anxious, busy, occupied," cognate with O.Du. bezich, Low Ger. besig; no known connection with any other Gmc. or IE language. Still pronounced as in M.E., but for some unclear reason the spelling shifted to -u- in 15c. The word was a euphemism for "sexually active" in 17c. Of telephone lines, 1893. In M.E., sometimes with a sense of "prying, meddlesome," preserved in busybody (1526). Busy work is first recorded 1910.
actively or fully engaged or occupied; "busy with her work"; "a busy man"; "too busy to eat lunch" [ant: idle]
2.
overcrowded or cluttered with detail; "a busy painting"; "a fussy design"
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]
4.
crowded with 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"
verb
1.
keep busy with; "She busies herself with her butterfly collection"
Busi"ness\, n.; pl. Businesses. [From Busy.]1. That which busies one, or that which engages the time, attention, or labor of any one, as his principal concern or interest, whether for a longer or shorter time; constant employment; regular occupation; as, the business of life; business before pleasure. Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? --Luke ii. 49. 2. Any particular occupation or employment engaged in for livelihood or gain, as agriculture, trade, art, or a profession. "The business of instruction." --Prescott. 3. Financial dealings; buying and selling; traffic in general; mercantile transactions. It seldom happens that men of a studious turn acquire any degree of reputation for their knowledge of business. --Bp. Popteus. 4. That which one has to do or should do; special service, duty, or mission. The daughter of the King of France, On serious business, craving quick despatch, Importunes personal conference. --Shak. What business has the tortoise among the clouds? --L'Estrange. 5. Affair; concern; matter; -- used in an indefinite sense, and modified by the connected words. It was a gentle business, and becoming The action of good women. --Shak. Bestow Your needful counsel to our business. --Shak. 6. (Drama) The position, distribution, and order of persons and properties on the stage of a theater, as determined by the stage manager in rehearsal. 7. Care; anxiety; diligence. [Obs.] --Chaucer. To do one's business, to ruin one. [Colloq.] --Wycherley. To make (a thing) one's business, to occupy one's self with a thing as a special charge or duty. [Colloq.] To mean business, to be earnest. [Colloq.] Syn: Affairs; concern; transaction; matter; engagement; employment; calling; occupation; trade; profession; vocation; office; duty.
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. Sir, my mistress sends you word That she is busy, and she can not come. --Shak. 2. Constantly at work; diligent; active. Busy hammers closing rivets up. --Shak. Religious motives . . . are so busy in the heart. --Addison. 3. Crowded with business or activities; -- said of places and times; as, a busy street. To-morrow is a busy day. --Shak. 4. Officious; meddling; foolish active. On meddling monkey, or on busy ape. --Shak. 5. Careful; anxious. [Obs.] --Chaucer. Syn: Diligent; industrious; assiduous; active; occupied; engaged.
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