busk
Americanverb (used without object)
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to entertain by dancing, singing, reciting, juggling, etc., on the street or in a public place.
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Canadian. to make a showy or noisy appeal.
noun
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a strip of whalebone, wood, steel, etc, inserted into the front of a corset to stiffen it
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archaic the corset itself
verb
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to make ready; prepare
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to dress or adorn
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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busksimple
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buskssimple
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have buskedperfect
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has buskedperfect
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am buskingprogressive
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are buskingprogressive
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is buskingprogressive
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have been buskingperfect progressive
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has been buskingperfect progressive
Past
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buskedsimple
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had buskedperfect
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was buskingprogressive
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were buskingprogressive
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had been buskingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of busk
First recorded in 1850–55; origin unclear; perhaps, if earlier sense was “to make a living by entertaining,” from Polari, from Italian buscare “to procure, get, gain,” from Spanish buscar “to look for, seek”
Explanation
To busk is to earn money by performing in public for tips. If you learn how to play the bagpipes, you could put on a kilt, go downtown, and busk. Unlike a concert with an admission fee, when a musician busks, she puts a tip jar nearby. Passers-by can donate money if they want to, but the music is free for those who can't or don't want to pay. In the 1800s, to busk was "to offer goods for sale only in bars and taprooms," probably from a nautical meaning of busk, "cruise like a pirate" or "live a shiftless life."
Vocabulary lists containing busk
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
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Americanized
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The Hazel Wood
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Literally anyone can don a costume and busk for cash in America’s busiest plaza—so Luke Winkie thought he’d try his hand at one of the weirdest, least-regulated jobs in America.
From Slate ● Nov. 14, 2023
Buffett dropped out of Auburn, often journeying to New Orleans to busk in its streets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2023
After waking up each morning, she puts on makeup and her favourite black wig before grabbing a handbag and heading onto the streets of the historic city of Yogyakarta to busk.
From BBC ● May 13, 2023
Now, after months without any work, he wakes up every morning to busk in a local market.
From New York Times ● Dec. 10, 2020
The solemn annual festival of the Creeks was the "busk" or puskita, a rejoicing over the first-fruits of the year.
From Man, Past and Present by Haddon, Alfred Court
Caitlin, who is now 19, wrote the music in her bedroom and often busks in Glasgow city centre.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2021
Acosta Escobedo busks around the city during the week and wasn’t about to take election day off.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2020
Between gigs, he busks, and the tips he collects make up an important part of his income, he says.
From Washington Post
Now he's a homeless schizophrenic, but he nourishes the hope of playing at Walt Disney Music Hall, the Frank Gehry building not far from where he busks for quarters.
From Time Magazine Archive
A bride "busks" herself for the bridal; when she is dressed she is "boun".
From The story of Burnt Njal From the Icelandic of the Njals Saga by Dasent, George Webbe
The Warwickshire-born singer grew up in Cornwall and busked on the streets of Newquay.
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2024
Street musicians busked for tourists, scooters and cars flew by, and dog walkers filed past Hætta’s temporary home.
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2023
He performed not only in pubs but busked outside of subway stations and retail stores.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 8, 2021
Tornai has busked as a street musician and worked in beloved Seattle kitchens, including Stateside and Café Presse — but said this experience will alter the trajectory of her life.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 23, 2020
That day thou callest Gilmanscleugh thine own, I will busk me again, as I once busked thy bonny bride, and put thy once-cherished Flower of Yarrow in fair competition with the broad acres of Gilmanscleugh.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 8 by Various
While Sheeran is a household name, he started his career busking in Ipswich and playing to tiny audiences in pubs around the county.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026
From the musicians busking along Venice Beach to the intimate shows at Winston House, music is part of the fabric of Venice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2025
Such large venues are a drastic change of scenery for the 31-year-old singer, who began his musical career busking in Medellín buses and streets, and was once dubbed “El Cantante Del Ghetto.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2025
"We went to every office and radio station and shook every hand individually. We stopped everyone on the street, busking."
From BBC ● Jan. 21, 2025
The next day, right when I begin to consider a career in busking or garbage collecting, two thick envelopes arrive in the mail: one from NYU and the other from DePaul University.
From "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter" by Erika L. Sánchez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
