Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A long motor vehicle for carrying passengers, usually along a fixed route.
  • noun Informal A large or ungainly automobile.
  • noun A four-wheeled cart for carrying dishes in a restaurant.
  • noun Electricity A bus bar.
  • noun Computers A parallel circuit that connects the major components of a computer, allowing the transfer of electric impulses from one connected component to any other.
  • intransitive verb To transport in a bus.
  • intransitive verb To transport (schoolchildren) by bus to schools outside their neighborhoods, especially as a means of achieving racial integration.
  • intransitive verb To carry or clear (dishes) in a restaurant.
  • intransitive verb To clear dishes from (a table).
  • intransitive verb To travel in a bus.
  • intransitive verb To work as a busboy.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An omnibus, or public street-carriage.
  • noun Short for bus-bar. Same as bus-bar.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun colloq. An omnibus.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun automotive A motor vehicle for transporting large numbers of people along roads.
  • noun An electrical conductor or interface serving as a common connection for two or more circuits or components.
  • noun medical industry, slang An ambulance.
  • verb transitive, automotive, transport To transport via a motor bus.
  • verb transitive, automotive, transport To transport students to school, often to a more distant school for the purposes of achieving racial integration.
  • verb intransitive, automotive, transport To travel by bus.
  • verb transitive, US, food service To clear meal remains from.
  • verb intransitive, US, food service To work at clearing the remains of meals from tables or counters; to work as a busboy.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb remove used dishes from the table in restaurants
  • verb ride in a bus
  • noun the topology of a network whose components are connected by a busbar
  • verb send or move around by bus
  • noun a car that is old and unreliable
  • noun an electrical conductor that makes a common connection between several circuits
  • noun a vehicle carrying many passengers; used for public transport

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Short for omnibus. V., intr., sense 2, back-formation from busboy.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Shortening of omnibus, from Latin omnibus ("for everything/all"); dative plural of omnis ("all").

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Examples

Comments

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  • Just before sunrise, after everyone discovered themselves squarely on the bus, and the doors firmly shut, the man behind the wheel turned to them and said, "This can prove to be a long journey, as long, in fact, as you can imagine it to be, and once we get started there are those among you who will begin to move up and down the aisle offering to provide travel instructions and motion remedies. I will be too involved driving this vehicle to ever address you so directly again, so just let me now offer you this tip for the journey: Either stay alert, or take a laxative."

    --Jan Cox

    November 15, 2007

  • Zincali More, yet, but.

    July 22, 2008