busying

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of busy.

   The nurses were busying themselves with paperwork between emergency calls.

   Busying herself with the garden helped her forget the bad news.

   Note

   The -ing form of a verb that seldom stands alone. Busy is usually reflexive, so this form normally takes a pronoun such as herself or themselves. Busying herself with the garden sounds complete, while busying with the garden sounds unfinished. The y of busy is kept before -ing, as in carrying and burying. The same spelling also serves as the noun for busyness, which can be made plural.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The condition of being busy, or the act of occupying oneself with some task.

   The endless busying of the holiday season left her exhausted by January.

   There was a cheerful busying in the workshop as everyone prepared for the show.

   Similarbustle, activity, hustle

   Oppositeidleness, inactivity

   Note

   A noun you can count: busyings are the separate occupations that fill a day or a mind. Thomas Cobbet's Gospel Incense (1856) warns that "busyings of the mind" leave prayer dreamy and distracted. The Cottage Lamp (1853) lists busyings beside talkings, anxieties and cares. In that company the word carries a faint reproach, suggesting restless, scattered effort rather than useful work.

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