busting

Pluralbustings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of bust.

   Detectives spent the summer busting illegal gambling rings across the city.

   The dealer kept busting, and the whole blackjack table walked away richer.

   Note

   Every meaning of bust passes through this form: busting can be arresting a suspect, catching someone in the act, debunking a belief or going over 21 at blackjack. The first two are slang. For plain breaking, busting is colloquial and American, so breaking is safer in formal writing. As a gerund it names the act: busting myths is her job.

2. 2
   adjective

   Urgently needing to urinate; a variant of bursting in the same sense.

   Three hours into the movie, I was absolutely busting.

   She was busting to go, but the line for the restroom stretched down the hall.

   Similarbursting, desperate

3. 3
   nouncolloquialcountable or uncountable

   The process of something being broken or blown up.

   The demolition crew's busting and hammering went on from dawn until dusk.

   Neighbors complained about the constant busting and banging coming from the fireworks warehouse.

   Similarsmashing, breaking

   Note

   This noun can be counted, so it takes a plural and slots into noisy lists: “the explosions, the blowings-up, the bustings, the firings,” runs “A Royal Salute” in Belgravia (1874). What gets broken can go in front, as in “head bustings” in Iceberg Slim's Long White Con. Breaking is the neutral word for the act; busting sounds rough and spoken.

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