Busy
['bɪzɪ] or ['bɪzi]
Definition
(verb.) keep busy with; 'She busies herself with her butterfly collection'.
(adj.) crowded with or characterized by much activity; 'a very busy week'; 'a busy life'; 'a busy street'; 'a busy seaport' .
(adj.) actively or fully engaged or occupied; 'busy with her work'; 'a busy man'; 'too busy to eat lunch' .
(adj.) (of facilities such as telephones or lavatories) unavailable for use by anyone else or indicating unavailability; (`engaged' is a British term for a busy telephone line); 'her line is busy'; 'receptionists' telephones are always engaged'; 'the lavatory is in use'; 'kept getting a busy signal' .
(adj.) overcrowded or cluttered with detail; 'a busy painting'; 'a fussy design' .
Typed by Chloe--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Engaged in some business; hard at work (either habitually or only for the time being); occupied with serious affairs; not idle nor at leisure; as, a busy merchant.
(a.) Constantly at work; diligent; active.
(a.) Crowded with business or activities; -- said of places and times; as, a busy street.
(a.) Officious; meddling; foolish active.
(a.) Careful; anxious.
(v. t.) To make or keep busy; to employ; to engage or keep engaged; to occupy; as, to busy one's self with books.
Editor: Theresa
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Diligent, assiduous, industrious, sedulous, notable, active, working, hard-working, at work; diligently employed, engaged, or occupied.[2]. Brisk, stirring, bustling, nimble, agile, SPRY, constantly in motion.[3]. Meddling, officious, importunate.
v. a. Occupy, employ, make busy.
Editor: Mary
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Industrious, diligent, assiduous, engaged, occupied
ANT:Idle, slothful, lazy, indolent, unoccupied
Checker: Maisie
Definition
adj. fully employed: active: diligent: meddling.—v.t. to make busy: to occupy:—pr.p. busying (biz′i-ing); pa.p. busied (biz′id).—adv. Bus′ily.—n. Bus′ybody one busy about others' affairs a meddling person.—adj. Bus′yless (Shak.) without business.—n. Bus′yness state of being busy.
Edited by Gail
Examples
- As I perceive that your boots, although used, are by no means dirty, I cannot doubt that you are at present busy enough to justify the hansom. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- I replied that I thought he was in the right place, and told him to get busy with his talk on dots and dashes. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- How cheerful, how animated, how suspicious, how busy their imaginations all are! Jane Austen. Emma.
- For myself, I was kept somewhat busy during the winter of 1847-8. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- This reflection thawed my congealing blood, and again the tide of life and love flowed impetuously onward, again to ebb as my busy thoughts changed. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- A hurry of voices succeeded, in which Mr Inspector's voice was busiest; it gradually slackened and sank; and Mr Inspector reappeared. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Stephenson himself was one of the busiest men in the kingdom. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- What have the people been about, who have been the busiest in getting money, and in getting power, this century or two? Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- A few minutes later, we had stopped at a large mansion in the busiest thoroughfare. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- See him busied at the work he likes best--making marriages. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Cassy busied herself with a French book; Emmeline, overcome with the exhaustion, fell into a doze, and slept some time. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- The woman walked forward among the boxes and bales of the lower deck, and, sitting down, busied herself with chirruping to her baby. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- When women are brooding over their children, or busied in a sick-room, who has not seen in their faces those sweet angelic beams of love and pity? William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- I saw her busied for a moment at a little stand; she poured out water, and measured drops from a phial: glass in hand, she approached me. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- I never saw a busier person than she seemed to be; yet it was difficult to say what she did: or rather, to discover any result of her diligence. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to be busier still this evening. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- She needed the relief of solitude after a day of busy thinking, and busier repenting. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- She, equally discreet, busies herself with her needlework. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- She busies herself in works of piety. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
Editor: Terence