bus

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bʌs/^[1]

Etymology

It is a shortening of omnibus,^[2][3][4] which comes from Latin omnibus (“for all”), the dative plural of omnis “all”.^[2] Etymonline remarks that the English noun is nothing but a Latin dative plural ending.^[2] The verb is from the noun.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A public street carriage: 1832.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The verb, “to travel by bus”, is from 1838.^[3][5] Busman's holiday, leisure time spent doing what one does for a living, is from 1893, probably from London omnibus drivers riding the buses on their days off.^[2] To miss the bus, “to lose an opportunity”, is Australian English from 1901,^[2] though the OED has a figurative miss the omnibus from 1886.^[5] The word was applied to a motor car or aeroplane from 1910.^[5] Clearing tables in a restaurant is by 1892, probably from the four-wheeled carts used to carry dishes.^[2] In electricity a bus is short for bus-bar (1930),^[5] and in computing it is a circuit that carries data between parts.^[6] The transitive verb, “to transport students to other schools to integrate them”, is American English from 1961,^[2][3] and busing in that sense from 1964.^[3]

Timeline

• 1832 – a public carriage.^[2][3][5]
• 1838 – verb, to travel by bus.^[3][5]
• 1886 – miss the omnibus.^[5]
• 1892 – to clear tables.^[2]
• 1893 – busman's holiday.^[2]
• 1901 – miss the bus.^[2]
• 1930 – a bus-bar.^[5]
• 1961 – verb, to transport students to integrate schools.^[2][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A large motor vehicle that carries passengers, usually along a fixed route.
2. A four-wheeled cart for carrying dishes in a restaurant.
3. (electricity) A bus-bar, a conductor joining several circuits.
4. (computing) A set of parallel circuits connecting the main parts of a computer so that data can pass between them.

Verb

1. To travel or carry by bus.
2. To transport children by bus to a school outside their area, to integrate schools.
3. To clear dishes from tables in a restaurant.

Word family

• busgirl
• busload
• busman
• microbus
• waterbus
• busway
• minibus

Related words

• omnibus
• trolleybus
• autobus

Usage notes

The plural is buses or busses, and the verb forms bused, busing or bussed, bussing.^[1] Other words spelled bus in the OED are a short form of harquebus (1549) and of business (1864).^[5]

References

1. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin