bust

n.

1. A sculpture representing a person's head, shoulders, and upper chest.
2. 1. A woman's bosom.
   2. The human chest.

[French buste, from Italian busto, possibly from Latin bustum, sepulchral monument.]

bust² (bŭst)

v., bust·ed, bust·ing, busts.

v.tr.

1. Slang.
   1. To smash or break, especially forcefully: "Mr. Luger worked it with a rake, busting up the big clods, making a flat brown table" (Garrison Keillor).
   2. To render inoperable or unusable: busted the vending machine by putting in foreign coins.
2. To cause to come to an end; break up: an attempt to bust the union.
3. To break or tame (a horse).
4. To cause to become bankrupt or short of money: "Too often, the promise of a high-tech design leads to a weapon that busts the budget" (Business Week).
5. Slang. To reduce in rank. See synonyms at demote.
6. To hit; punch.
7. Slang.
   1. To place under arrest.
   2. To make a police raid on.

v.intr.

1. Slang.
   1. To undergo breakage; become broken.
   2. To burst; break: "Several companies have threatened to bust out of their high-wage contracts by the dubious technique of declaring bankruptcy" (Washington Post).
2. To become bankrupt or short of money.
3. Games. To lose at blackjack by exceeding a score of 21.

n.

1. A failure; a flop: "The home-style bean curd is a bust, oily and rubbery" (Mark and Gail Barnett).
2. A state of bankruptcy.
3. A time or period of widespread financial depression: "Bankers consider the region's diversified economy to be good protection against a possible real estate bust" (American Banker).
4. A punch; a blow.
5. A spree: a fraternity beer bust.
6. Slang.
   1. An arrest.
   2. A raid.

idiom:

bust (one's) butt (or ass) Vulgar Slang.

1. To make a strenuous effort; work very hard.

[Variant of BURST.]

verb

1. To make or become unusable or inoperative: break, fail, ruin. See help/harm/harmless.
2. To come open or fly apart suddenly and violently, as from internal pressure: blow, burst, explode, pop. See explosion/collapse.
3. To make (an animal) docile: break, gentle, master, tame. See wild/tame.
4. To reduce to financial insolvency: bankrupt, break, impoverish, pauperize, ruin. Slang clean out. See money.
5. To undergo sudden financial failure: break, collapse, crash, fail, go under. Informal fold. Idioms: go belly up, go bust, go on the rocks, go to the wall. See money.
6. To lower in rank or grade: break, bump, degrade, demote, downgrade, reduce. See rise/fall.
7. To hit with a quick, sharp blow of the hand: box, buffet, cuff, punch, slap, smack, spank, swat, whack. Informal clip, spat. See attack/defend, strike/miss.
8. To take into custody as a prisoner: apprehend, arrest, seize. Informal nab, pick up. Slang collar, pinch, run in. See law.

noun

1. One that fails completely: failure, fiasco, loser, washout. Informal dud, flop, lemon. Slang bomb. See thrive/fail/exist.
2. The condition of being financially insolvent: bankruptcy, failure, insolvency. See money.
3. A quick, sharp blow, especially with the hand: box, buffet, chop, cuff, punch, slap, smack, smacker, spank, swat, whack. Informal clip, spat. See attack/defend, strike/miss.
4. A seizing and holding by law: apprehension, arrest, seizure. Slang collar, pickup, pinch. See law.

Idioms beginning with bust:
bust a gut

See also break (bust) one's ass; go broke (bust).

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n

Definition: arrest for illegal action
Antonyms: exoneration

v

Definition: arrest for illegal action
Antonyms: exonerate, let go

v

Definition: physically break
Antonyms: fix, mend

v

Definition: ruin, impoverish
Antonyms: aid, help

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Origin: 1764

It busted out in a Massachusetts advertisement of 1764: "Stray'd or stolen...a Bay mare, with a cut main, and a Bust on the near Side of the Hind Flank." At that point it was just a New England way of saying burst, in the same r-dropping way that Cuss (1815) developed from curse. By the next century, however, bust occupied a place of its own in American speech. One morning in 1806 Meriwether Lewis, of the Lewis and Clark expedition, noted that "Windsor busted his rifle near the muzzle." In 1832, after the Whig Henry Clay lost the presidential election to Andrew Jackson, the joke was, "Why is the Whig party like a sculptor? Because it takes Clay and makes a bust."

By the mid-nineteenth century, banks busted or went bust when they went bankrupt; people would go on a bust of drinking; a failure was a bust, and so was a celebration.

We now have boom and bust (1943) and several bust phrases that mean strain or laugh: bust a hamstring (1903), bust a gut (1912), and bust my buttons (1921). Bust runs the gamut from slang to standard. When it is used to mean "to explode or fall apart or be arrested," bust is generally slang. In the sense of failing (especially financially) it is informal, as busting the bank in gambling lingo, while in the specialized sense of taming a horse it is standard, the only way to say busting a bronco.

The related word buster is an often unfriendly term of address, as well as something large or remarkable. There are, too, some downright humorous derivatives of bust in busticated (broken, 1916) and bustified (pot-bellied, 1939). And the rhyming of the words bust and trust gave us an important term in American history, trustbuster (1903).

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Dansk (Danish)
1.
n. - buste, brystmål

2.
v. tr. - brække, revne
v. intr. - brække, revne
n. - razzia, politirazzia
adj. - i stykker, itu, revet

idioms:

• go bust    gå fallit, gå konkurs

Nederlands (Dutch)
borstbeeld, boezem, arrestatie, inval door politie, faillissement, zuippartij, waardeloos iets, mollen, failliet gaan, barsten, breken, degraderen (militair), invallen, arresteren

Français (French)
1.
n. - buste (sculpture), (Anat) buste, poitrine

2.
v. tr. - casser (qch), crever (qch), arrêter (un voleur, etc), (US, Mil) rétrograder (qn), (US) dresser (des chevaux sauvages)
v. intr. - se casser, se crever
n. - arrestation, rafle, perquisition
adj. - cassé (une assiette, etc), crevé (un ballon), foutu (une radio)

idioms:

• go bust    faire faillite, perdre tout son argent

Deutsch (German)
1.
n. - Büste, Busen

2.
v. - kaputtmachen, (ugs.) auffliegen lassen, (ugs.) schnappen, (ugs.) degradieren, (ugs.) entlassen, (ugs.) hauen, Bankrott machen, kaputtgehen
n. - Pleite, Zusammenbruch, Razzia, Sauftour
adj. - kaputt, bankrott

idioms:

• go bust    Bankrott machen

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - σπάω, θρυμματίζω, συντρίβω, πτωχεύω, φαλίρω, ξεχαρβαλώνω, ξεκάνω, (σε χαρτοπαίγνιο) καίγομαι, συλλαμβάνω, τσιμπάω
n. - προτομή, μπούστο, (γυναικείο) στήθος, αποτυχία, φιάσκο, χρεοκοπία, πτώχευση, ξεφάντωμα, γλέντι, σύλληψη

idioms:

• go bust    (καθομ.) πτωχεύω, φαλίρω

Italiano (Italian)
rompere, fallire, seno, busto

idioms:

• go bust    fare fallimento

Português (Portuguese)
v. - quebrar, rebaixar (Mil.), prender (gír.), invadir um local em busca de objetos ilegais
n. - busto (m)

idioms:

• go bust    falir

Русский (Russian)
разбить, обанкротиться, арестовать, бюст

idioms:

• go bust    обанкротиться

Español (Spanish)
1.
n. - pechos, senos, busto, escultura

2.
v. tr. - destrozar, romper, hacer bancarrota, quebrar, fracasar
v. intr. - destrozar, romper, hacer bancarrota, quebrar
n. - fracaso, borrachera
adj. - destrozado, roto, quebrado, fracasado

idioms:

• go bust    irse a la bancarrota

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - spränga, spräcka, klippa till, göra bankrutt
n. - slag, smocka, razzia, krasch

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
1. 胸像, 半身像, 胸围, 胸部

2. 使爆裂, 使断裂, 弄坏, 打破, 使破产, 爆裂, 坏掉, 破产, 失败, 殴打, 逮捕, 破了产的, 损坏了的, 垮了的

idioms:

• go bust    失败, 破产, 倒闭

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
1.
v. tr. - 使爆裂, 使斷裂, 弄壞, 打破, 使破產
v. intr. - 爆裂, 壞掉, 打破, 破產, 失敗
n. - 失敗, 毆打, 破產, 逮捕
adj. - 破了產的, 損壞了的, 垮了的

idioms:

• go bust    失敗, 破產, 倒閉

2.
n. - 胸像, 半身像, 胸圍, 胸部

한국어 (Korean)
1.
n. - 흉상, 여성의 앞가슴

2.
v. tr. - ~을 치다, ~을 파산시키다, ~을 체포하다
v. intr. - 파산하다, 지치다
n. - 강타, 실패, 술잔치
adj. - 파산한

idioms:

• go bust    파산하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 胸像, 胸, バスト, 大失敗, 破産, 殴打, 上半身
v. - 壊す, 破産させる, 階級を下げる, 殴る, ならす

idioms:

• bust a gut    大変な努力をする, 頭を悩ます
• go bust    失敗する

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) انفجر, كسر, انكسر, أفلس (الاسم) تمثال نصفي, صدر أو مقاس, الصدر للسيدات, غارة بوليسيه, تحطم‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮היקף החזה, שדיים, פסל-חזה‬
v. tr. - ‮שבר, עצר, אסר, פשט על, הוריד בדרגה‬
v. intr. - ‮נשבר‬
n. - ‮פשיטה של שוטרים, חיפוש, מאסר, פרוטומה, כישלון חרוץ, פשיטת-רגל, דבר חסר-ערך, מכה‬
adj. - ‮הרוס, שבור‬

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Quick Bust	bust a move
bust a groove	bust magazine