Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Engaged in activity, as work; occupied.
- adj. Sustaining much activity: a busy morning; a busy street.
- adj. Meddlesome; prying.
- adj. Being in use, as a telephone line.
- adj. Cluttered with detail to the point of being distracting: a busy design.
- v. To make busy; occupy: busied myself preparing my tax return.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Actively or attentively engaged; closely occupied physically or mentally; intent upon that which one is doing; not at leisure: opposed to idle.
- Active in that which does not concern one; meddling with or prying into the affairs of others; officious; importunate.
- In constant or energetic action; rapidly moving or moved; diligently used: as, busy hands or thoughts.
- Pertaining or due to energetic action; manifesting constant or rapid movement.
- Requiring constant attention, as a task.
- Filled with, active duties or employment.
- Careful; anxious. Chaucer. Synonyms and Active, Busy, Officious, etc. (see
active ); diligent, assiduous, hard-working; meddling, intriguing. - To employ with constant attention; keep engaged; make or keep busy: as, to busy one's self with books.
- In decoration, full of detail; overcrowded; fussy.
Wiktionary
- adj. Doing a great deal; having a lot of things to do in the space of time given
- adj. Engaged in another activity or by someone else.
- adj. Having a lot going on; complicated or intricate.
- v. To make somebody busy, to keep busy with, to occupy, to make occupied.
- v. To rush somebody.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Engaged in some business; hard at work (either habitually or only for the time being); occupied with serious affairs; not idle nor at leisure.
- adj. Constantly at work; diligent; active.
- adj. Crowded with business or activities; -- said of places and times.
- adj. Officious; meddling; foolish active.
- adj. Careful; anxious.
- v. To make or keep busy; to employ; to engage or keep engaged; to occupy.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner
- adj. crowded with or characterized by much activity
- adj. (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)
- adj. overcrowded or cluttered with detail
- v. keep busy with
- adj. actively or fully engaged or occupied
Etymologies
- Middle English bisi, busi, from Old English bysig.
Examples
“As he enters what he calls his busy season, Young is preparing for some trade shows and hopes to have even more announcements as his small company expands its market.”
“Donovan McNabb posted an update over on his Yardbarker blog about what he calls his busy time of year.”
“View full size photo uploaded June 1, 2009 Donovan McNabb posted an update over on his Yardbarker blog about what he calls his busy time of year.”
“- View full size photo uploaded June 1, 2009 Donovan McNabb posted an update over on his Yardbarker blog about what he calls his busy time of year.”
“Gettin 'busy 'cause I'm a star, no spangled banner.”
The Washington Post: With a smirk or a scowl, Drake ignites admirers
“So, they live in busy families-these most intelligent and human of all birds.”
“Slots, especially at peak times of day and in busy corridors like the Northeast, are valuable to airlines.”
“I always thought the solution to crime was fairly simple: more cops on the beat (community policing, mounted police, more cops in busy areas like Europe does, dedicated response cars and teams so as to free up the cruisers to actually do their job, etc), more in the lock-up, get the thugs off the streets and stones out of windows.”
“Being too busy is no excuse, ignorance is no excuse.”
seanahan "Busy, busy, busy is what we Bokononists whisper whenever we think of how complicated and unpredictable the machinery of life really is." - Cat's Cradle Dec 2, 2006