bus

A motor vehicle for transporting large numbers of people along roads.

Noun

  1. A motor vehicle for transporting large numbers of people along roads.
    • I'm on the bus.
    • I can't read on the bus because I get sick.

    Synonyms: autobus coach loser cruiser motorbus motorcoach omnibus Shillibeer

    1. (chiefly US, Canada) A coach, a bus used for long travels.

      Synonyms: autobus coach loser cruiser motorbus motorcoach omnibus Shillibeer

  2. Any motorized vehicle, such as a motorbike or car.
    • “Excuse me,” said the stranger, who turned out to be a youth in motorcycling kit, “but could you give me a hand with my bus?” - 1927, Dorothy Sayers, Unnatural Death:
    • It had to be something with only two cylinders, if the whole ignition was to be put out of action with one needle: that is, a Morgan, a Belsize-Bradshaw, or a motorbike. He probably avoided the bike on the grounds of...
  3. An electrical conductor or interface serving as a common connection for two or more circuits or components.

    Synonyms: busbar digit trunk electrical bus

  4. Part of a MIRV missile, having on-board motors used to deliver the warhead to a target.
  5. An ambulance.
  6. An aeroplane.
  7. A network topology with each computer connected to a single cable.

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep-der. Proto-Italic *opnis Latin omnis Latin omnibuslbor. French omnibusbor. English omnibusclip. English bus Clipping of omnibus. Superseded earlier 'bus, where the apostrophe indicated a clipping. The shift in spelling likely reflects the fact that modern speakers no longer perceive this term as a clipping. The electrical sense is derived from figurative application of the automotive sense.

Forms

buses busses 'bus

Derived

address bus Airbus airbus and then everyone on the bus clapped articulated bus baht bus banana bus bangbus battle bus battlebus bendy bus boo-boo bus bookbus Boris bus busable busbar bus bar bus boy bus bridge bus buddy bus bulb bus captain bus conductor bus conductress

Verb automotive, transport

  1. To transport via a motor bus.
    • Because the new language school of Fu Jen University in the nearby city of Hsinchu was not yet completed, we were bused with other aspiring students of Chinese language to a farming village called Kuanhsi (Guanxi: West...
    • Machine guns are the most effective form of ‘election campaigning’, but the occupiers appear to also be bussing in ‘voters’ from the Russian Federation, and ‘registering total strangers in the homes of people forced to...
    • The ANC has accused the IFP of bussing in voters from other wards to vote during the recent Newcastle Municipality by-election won by the IFP. - 2024 March 14, Clive Ndou, “ANC set to open case against ‘ghost IFP...
  2. To transport students to school, often to a more distant school for the purposes of achieving racial integration.
    • But if you ask me to bus my children / I hope the cops take down your name - 1966, Phil Ochs, “Love Me, I'm a Liberal”, in Phils Ochs in Concert:
    • ...to strike down Detroit's federal court order to bus students across school district lines for the purpose of desegregation and therefore nullify many busing programs throughout the country. - 2008, Ashley R. Holm,...
  3. To travel by bus.

Forms

buss busses busing bussing bused bussed

Verb US, transitive

  1. To clear meal remains from.
    • He bussed tables as the restaurant emptied out.
    • He was hired to bus tables, but after a few incidents they moved him to the kitchen. - 2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 13:
  2. To work at clearing the remains of meals from tables or counters; to work as a busboy.
    • He’s been bussing for minimum wage.

Origin

Back-formation from busboy.

Forms

buss busses busing bussing bused bussed

Derived

busser