omnibus

Etymology

It is borrowed from French omnibus, also voiture omnibus (“carriage for all”),^[2][3][4][5] from Latin omnibus (“for all”), the dative plural of omnis (“all”), the source of omni-.^[6][2][7][8] Merriam-Webster suggests that omnis is perhaps related to ops (“wealth”).^[9][10] The French word is reported from 1825, when, according to the Französisches etymologisches Wörterbuch cited by the OED, it named coaches run by a M. Baudry between Nantes and a nearby bathing place; the name is said to have come from a tradesman called Omnès whose sign read “Omnès omnibus”, and it was meant partly to set the new vehicles apart from the older, more exclusive carriages.^[6] Etymonline and Klein credit Jacques Laffitte with introducing the vehicle in Paris in about 1820,^[2][8] and Merriam-Webster dates the French use to 1828, explaining that it was the first such conveyance legally open to all social classes.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A large public vehicle carrying passengers by road along a fixed route for a fare: 1829, in an advertisement in the British Traveller, the year the vehicle came into use in London.^[6][2][4][9]

Semantic evolution

Within a few years the learned word was shortened to bus, recorded from 1832,^[2][11][10] and the full form is now chiefly historical or formal for the vehicle.^[6][12] The Latin meaning "for all" was soon taken up figuratively: from 1831 an omnibus was anything that took in many different items,^[6] and by 1839 a book reprinting several works of one author or of one kind in a single volume.^[6][11] As an adjective, of a law or bill dealing with many unrelated matters, it is recorded from 1842 in the OED and Barnhart, as American English,^[6][4][9] but already in 1835 in Etymonline, which notes its use in the United States for the Compromise of 1850.^[2] From 1888 it was American slang for a waiter's assistant, the source of busboy.^[6][2] In 1988 British broadcasting began to use it for several episodes of a series shown together.^[6] The humorous plural omnibi, treating the word as if it were a Latin plural, is recorded from 1840.^[6][13]

Timeline

• 1829 – a public passenger vehicle running on a fixed route.^[6][2][4]
• 1831 – anything that includes many diverse items.^[6]
• 1839 – a single volume reprinting several works.^[6]
• 1842 – adjective, covering many different items, especially of a bill in Congress.^[6][4][9] Etymonline dates the adjective to 1835.^[2]
• 1888 – slang, a waiter's assistant.^[6][2]
• 1928 – of a film made of excerpts of other films, and of a book, an omnibus edition.^[6]
• 1988 – a broadcast of several episodes of a programme together.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (formal or historical) A bus, especially a horse-drawn one: They took the omnibus from the station to the market square.^[12][6][9]
2. A volume containing several works by one author, or several works of a similar kind, that were first published separately.^[12][6]
3. (chiefly British) A radio or television programme made of two or more episodes of a series broadcast together.^[12][6]
4. (US, dated) A busboy.^[9][6][2]

Adjective

1. Covering or providing for many different things at once: an omnibus spending bill.^[9][6][12]

Word family

• bus

Related words

• busboy
• omni-
• omnipotent
• omniscient
• omnivorous
• omnium-gatherum

Usage notes

The man on the Clapham omnibus is a phrase for an ordinary, reasonable person.^[6] Weekley compares the French train omnibus, a stopping train.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray