bustle

Meanings

Noun

• An excited activity; a stir.
• A cover to protect and hide the back panel of a computer or other office machine.
• A frame worn underneath a woman's skirt, typically only protruding from the rear as opposed to the earlier more circular hoops.

Verb

• To move busily and energetically with fussiness (often followed by about).
• To teem or abound (usually followed by with); to exhibit an energetic and active abundance (of a thing).
• To push around, to importune.

Related

Similar words

• flit, hustle, scamper, scurry
• abound, brim, bristle, burst, crawl, swell, teem

Origin

• From Middle English bustlen, bustelen, bostlen, perhaps an alteration of *busklen (> Modern English buskle), a frequentative of Middle English busken, from Old Norse búa; or alternatively from a frequentative form of Middle English busten, bisten -le. Compare also Icelandic bustla.