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busy

 - 4 dictionary results

bus⋅y

  [biz-ee] adjective, bus⋅i⋅er, bus⋅i⋅est, verb, bus⋅ied, bus⋅y⋅ing.
Use busy in a Sentence
–adjective
1. 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.

Antonyms:
1. indolent. 2. unoccupied.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To busy
bus·y   (bĭz'ē)   
adj.   bus·i·er, bus·i·est

  1. Engaged in activity, as work; occupied.

  2. Sustaining much activity: a busy morning; a busy street.

  3. Meddlesome; prying.

  4. Being in use, as a telephone line.

  5. 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).
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

busy 
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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

busy

In addition to the idioms beginning with busy, also see get busy.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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