bust English · revision 10401

+ Bust, a sculpture or bosom, is from Italian busto; bust, to burst or break, is an alteration of burst.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /bʌst/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|1|sculpture}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=borrowing|attested=1691|origins=fr buste|origins=it busto|origins=la bustum}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fr|buste]], from Italian [[m|it|busto|t=upper body]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from Latin bustum, a funeral monument, tomb, originally a funeral pyre,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) perhaps short for ambustum, the neuter of ambustus, burned around, past participle of ambūrere, to scorch (see [[combustion]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) or perhaps from Old Latin boro, the early form of ūrō, to burn.^(Etymonline) Hoad calls the Romance word of unknown origin.^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A sculpture of the head, shoulders and chest: 1691 in Barnhart and the OED, the 1690s in Etymonline.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Barnhart explains the change from tomb to sculpture by the Etruscan custom of keeping the ashes of the dead in an urn shaped like the living person, a custom the Romans partly copied.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) Italian busto was later applied to a bust of the dead placed on a grave, long after cremation had ceased.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) The upper front part of the body, a woman's bosom, appeared in English in 1727–51, in Chambers's ''Cyclopaedia'',^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) and the measurement around a woman's body at the breasts is by 1884.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1691 – a sculpture.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1727–51 – the bosom.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1884 – a bust measurement.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[sculpture]] of a person's head, shoulders and upper chest.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A woman's [[bosom]], or the measurement around it.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The human chest.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[busty]]

+ * [[bustline]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|burst}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|attested=1764|origins=en burst}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is an alteration of [[burst]], first in American English,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) with the loss of -r- as in [[ass]] for arse.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ As a noun, a frolic or spree: 1764;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) as a verb, to burst, 1806 in Barnhart and Etymonline, though Merriam-Webster dates it to 1639.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A sudden failure is from 1842,^(Etymonline) and to go bankrupt from 1834.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) To break into something is from 1859.^(Etymonline) ''... or bust'', as an emphatic phrase, is attested by 1851, probably from the earlier ''bust one's boiler'', from steamboat boilers exploding.^(Etymonline) To demote, especially in the army, is from 1918;^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) a police raid or arrest is from 1938,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) and to arrest from 1953.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) In card games, to go over 21, it is from 1939.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1764 – a spree (noun).^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1806 – to burst (verb).^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1834 – to go bankrupt.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1842 – a failure.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1918 – to demote.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1938 – a police raid.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1953 – to arrest.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(informal)'' To break or smash, or to become broken.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(informal)'' To make or become bankrupt or short of money.^(AHD)

+ # ''(informal)'' To arrest, or to raid.^(AHD)

+ # ''(informal)'' To reduce in rank.^(AHD)

+ # To tame a horse; to lose at blackjack by going over 21.^(AHD)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A failure or flop.^(AHD)

+ # A time of economic depression; bankruptcy: ''boom and bust''.^(AHD)

+ # ''(informal)'' A police raid or arrest.^(AHD)

+ # A spree.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[busted]]

+ * [[buster]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[bustier]]

+ * [[burst]]

+ * [[combustion]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}