AskDefine | Define busy

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Dictionary Definition

busy adj
1 actively or fully engaged or occupied; "busy with her work"; "a busy man"; "too busy to eat lunch"; "the line is busy" [ant: idle]
2 overcrowded or cluttered with detail; "a busy painting"; "a fussy design" [syn: fussy]
3 intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner; "an interfering old woman"; "bustling about self-importantly making an officious nuisance of himself"; "busy about other people's business" [syn: interfering, meddlesome, meddling, officious, busybodied]
4 crowdedwith or characterized by much activity; "a very busy week"; "a busy life"; "a busy street"; "a busy seaport"
5 (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" [syn: engaged, in use(p)] v : keep busy with; "She busies herself with her butterfly collection" [syn: occupy] [also: busied, busiest, busier]

User Contributed Dictionary

English

Etymology

From bisiġ.

Pronunciation

Adjective

  1. Doing a great deal; having a lot of things to do in the space of time given
    It has been a busy day.
  2. Engaged in another activity or by someone else.
    The director cannot see you now, he's busy.
    Her telephone has been busy all day.
  3. Having a lot going on; complicated or intricate.
    Flowers, stripes, and checks in the same fabric make for a busy pattern.

Related terms

Translations

doing a great deal
engaged
  • Finnish: varattu
  • Polish: zajęty
complicated
  • Finnish: levoton, sekava
  • Polish: skomplikowany

Verb

  1. To make somebody busy, to keep busy with, to occupy, to make occupied.
    • On my vacation I'll busy myself with gardening.
  2. To rush somebody.

Translations

to keep busy with
  • Finnish: puuhailla, askaroida, työllistää
to rush somebody
  • Finnish: hoputtaa

Extensive Definition

Busy may refer to:

Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words

absorb, active, arabesque, assiduous, at it, at work, attend to business, baroque, burden, bustling, busybody, chichi, complex, complicated, detailed, devote, diligent, divert, drive, elaborate, elegant, employ, employed, energetic, engage, engaged, engross, fag, fancy, fine, flamboyant, florid, flowery, forward, frilly, full of business, fussy, hard at it, hard at work, hectic, high-wrought, hustling, immerse, impertinent, in harness, industrious, inquisitive, intricate, involve, involved, keep busy, labored, lively, luxuriant, luxurious, meddlesome, meddling, mind the store, moresque, nosy, occupied, occupy, officious, on duty, on the go, on the hop, on the job, on the jump, on the move, on the run, oppress, ornate, ostentatious, overdrive, overelaborate, overelegant, overlabored, overtask, overtax, overwork, overworked, overwrought, pass the time, picturesque, presumptuous, pretty-pretty, prying, pushing, pushy, rich, rococo, self-appointed, snoopy, soak, spend, spend the time, sweat, task, tax, tied up, work, working
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