Nearby Words

busying

[biz-ee] Origin

bus·y

[biz-ee] adjective, bus·i·er, bus·i·est, verb, bus·ied, bus·y·ing.
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.
EXPAND
6.
ornate, disparate, or clashing in design or colors; cluttered with small, unharmonious details; fussy: The rug is too busy for this room.
COLLAPSE
verb (used with object)
7.
to keep occupied; make or keep busy: In summer, he busied himself keeping the lawn in order.

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Busying is always a great word to know.
So is gobo. Does it mean:
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.

Origin:
before 1000; Middle English busi, bisi, Old English bysig, bisig; cognate with Middle Low German, Middle Dutch besich, Dutch bezig

non·bus·y, adjective
o·ver·bus·y, adjective
su·per·bus·y, adjective
un·bus·y, adjective
well-bus·ied, adjective


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.


1. indolent. 2. unoccupied.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Etymonline
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 Germanic or Indo-European 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"
EXPAND
in 17c. Of telephone lines, 1893. In M.E., sometimes with a sense of "prying, meddlesome," preserved in busybody. Busy work is first recorded 1910. The verb is O.E. bisgian.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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