bust

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   lacking funds

   The bank account was bust – I could take out no more money.

2. 2
   noun

   an occasion for excessive eating or drinking

   They went on a bust that lasted three days.

3. 3
   noun

   a sculpture of the head and shoulders of a person

   The museum had a number of busts from the Renaissance.

4. 4
   noun

   the chest of a woman

   I used a bra to support my bust.

5. 5
   noun

   a complete failure

   The party was an absolute bust – no-one came.

6. 6
   verb

   to break open or apart suddenly and forcefully

   The dam is about to bust!

7. 7
   verb

   to go to pieces

   I busted the vase.

8. 8
   verb

   to ruin completely

   I busted my radio!

Etymology

Borrowed from French buste, from Italian busto (“torso, upper body”), from Latin bustum (“funeral monument, tomb," originally "funeral pyre, place where corpses are burned”). Perhaps shortened from Latin ambustum, neuter of ambustus (“scorched”), past participle of ambūrō (“burn all over, scorch”), from ambi- (“around”) + ūrō (“to burn”).