busy

Meanings

Adjective

• Crowded with business or activities; having a great deal going on.
• Engaged in activity or by someone else.
• Having a lot going on; complicated or intricate.
• Officious; meddling.

Verb

• To make somebody busy or active; to occupy.
• To rush somebody.

Noun

• A police officer.

Related

Similar words

• swamped

Origin

• From Middle English bisy, busie, from Old English bysiġ, bisiġ, from Proto-West Germanic *bisīg. Cognate with Saterland Frisian biesich, Dutch bezig, Low German besig, Old Frisian bisgia, Old English bisgian. The spelling with ⟨u⟩ represents the pronunciation of the West Midland and Southern dialects while the Modern English pronunciation with /ɪ/ is from the dialects of the East Midlands.