HOW TO PRONOUNCE
bust
/bʌst/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:55
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What does bust mean?
verb
- To break.
- (slang) To arrest (someone or a group of people) for a crime.
- (slang) To catch (someone) in the act of doing something wrong, socially and morally inappropriate, or illegal, especially when being done in a sneaky or secretive state.
More meanings (25)
verb
- (slang) To debunk, dispel (a belief).
- An emphatic synonym of do or get.
- (informal) To reduce in rank.
- To undo a trade, generally an error trade, that has already been executed.
- To lose all of one's chips.
- To exceed a score of 21.
- (slang) To break in (an animal).
- (slang) To have sex with (a woman or girl) for the first time, to take another's virginity.
- For a headline to exceed the amount of space reserved for it.
- (slang) To refute an established opening.
- (slang) To shoot (a gun).
- (slang) To attack, hit or insult (someone).
- (slang) To do or perform; to move quickly.
- (slang, vulgar) To ejaculate; to eject semen or to squirt.
noun
- (slang) The act of arresting someone for a crime, or raiding a suspected criminal operation.
- (slang) A police raid or takedown of a criminal enterprise.
- (slang) A failed enterprise; a bomb.
- (slang) A refutation of an opening, or of a previously published analysis.
- (slang) A disappointment.
- The downward portion of a boom and bust cycle; a recession.
- A sculptural portrayal of a person's head and shoulders.
- A woman's breasts; the circumference of her chest measured around the breasts.
- (derogatory) A player who fails to meet expectations.
- (dated, slang) A spree, unrestrained revel, or wild party.
adjective
- (slang) Without any money, broke, bankrupt.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/bʌst/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
Behold him in the sand up to his belly, the sand reaches to his breast, he is only a bust now.
Miss Light’s bust stood for a while on exhibition in Roderick’s studio, and half the foreign colony came to see it.
More book examples (3)
He took out of his pocket a photograph of a young lady with large eyes, luxuriant hair, and an uncommonly well-developed bust.
“You charge me fifty sequins,” said the Venetian nobleman to the sculptor, “for a bust that cost you only ten days’ labour.”
It was a bust of Napoleon, like the one which we had seen that morning, and it had been broken into similar fragments.