1832. Ht. Martineau, Weal and Woe, i., 14. If the station offers me
a place in a buss. [M.]
1852. Dickens, Bleak House, p. 93. He proposed that they should go,
per buss, a little way into the country.
1861. Thackeray, Adventures of Philip, II., p. 316. We were
mortified to see that of the five persons conveyed by the ’bus, one
was a tradesman, etc.
1869. Black, In Silk Attire, II., p. 205. Annie Brunel got out of
the Hampstead ’bus, and found herself in the muddy highway.
Verb (American).—To punch [one’s head].
Bush or Be Bushed, verb (Australian).—Primarily to camp out in the
bush; or to get lost in the bush. Hence a slang usage in which the
expression is applied to a person in any mental or physical difficulty
or muddle.
1887. All the Year Round, July 30, p. 68. An Australian says that
he is bushed just as an Englishman, equally characteristically,
declares that he is fogged.
1889. B. L. Farjeon, In Australian Wilds. ‘We shall have to bush
it, mate,’ I said. ‘That’s so,’ said Lilly Trot, unconcernedly; but
looking about him sharply, despite his apparent carelessness, for a
suitable spot to camp on. Ibid. We were on horseback, with blankets
before us on our saddles, to provide for our getting bushed. We
were prepared for rough times. I carried my revolver, and Lilly
Trot had a villainous-looking black life-preserver up his sleeve,
ready at a moment’s notice for any emergency.
Bushed, ppl. adj. (old).—Hard up; without money; destitute.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. Bush’d, poor; without money.
Bushed On, verbal phr. (common).—Pleased; delighted.
Bushel Bubby, subs. (old).—A full and large breasted woman. [From
bushel, a (large) measure, + bubby (q.v.), a breast.] Cf., Bubber.
Bushwhacker, subs. (American political).—In politics, as in war, simply
a ‘free-lance.’ During the Rebellion deserters from the ranks of both
armies infested the country, bands of these marauders making raids upon
defenceless houses and even going the length of sacking whole towns.
Originally the term was harmless enough in meaning. At a time when
water-communication was the chief means of locomotion, and the rivers,
streams, and creeks of densely wooded regions were alive with the
advance guards of civilization, bushwhacking was the name given to the
means by which lumbermen propelled their craft up and down stream. This
was accomplished by pulling the bushes growing by the water side; or,
on land, by the cutting away of a thicket in order to obtain a passage.
The man who did this, and the instrument—a kind of scythe or cutlass
with which, in the latter case, he thus forced his way—were alike
called bushwhackers. The word has gone through yet another transition.
Since the war it has also come to mean a ‘country bumpkin,’ a
‘clod-pole,’ or any other person of a ‘verdant’ character.
Bushy Park, subs. (rhyming slang).—A lark.
To be in Bushy Park, phr. (old).—To be poor.
Business, subs. (old).—1. Sexual intercourse. For synonyms, see Greens.
1630. Taylor, Workes. And Lais of Corinth, ask’d Demosthenes One
hundred crownes for one night’s businesse.
1654. Wits Recreations.
What Crispulus is that in a new gown,
All trim’d with loops and buttons up and down,
That learns there on his arm in private chat
With thy young wife, what Crispulus is that?
He’s proctor of a court, thou say’st and does
Some business of my wives: thou brainless goose,
He does no business of thy wives, not he,
He does thy business (Coracine) for thee.