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  • buster
    buster
    noun
    a person who breaks up something.
  • Buster
    Buster
    noun
    a male given name.

buster

1 American  
[buhs-ter] / ˈbʌs tər /

noun

Informal.
  1. a person who breaks up something.

    crime busters.

  2. something that is very big or unusual for its kind.

  3. a loud, uproarious reveler.

  4. a frolic; spree.

  5. (initial capital letter) (used as a familiar term of address to a man or boy who is an object to the speaker's annoyance or anger).

    Look, Buster, you're standing in my way!


Buster 2 American  
[buhs-ter] / ˈbʌs tər /

noun

  1. a male given name.


buster British  
/ ˈbʌstə /

noun

  1. (in combination) a person or thing destroying something as specified

    dambuster

  2. a term of address for a boy or man

  3. a person who breaks horses

  4. a spree, esp a drinking bout

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of buster

An Americanism dating back to 1825–35; bust 2 + -er 1

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.

Forever it will live as instant happiness, a bad-mood buster: Alysa Liu’s climactic, wildly charismatic free skate at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 23, 2026

Only the US was considered to have a "bunker buster" bomb strong and large enough to destroy Fordo.

From BBC • Jun. 21, 2025

These bombers can carry the 30,000-pound GBU-57 “Massive Ordnance Penetrator” bunker buster, a weapon experts say is uniquely designed to penetrate underground nuclear facilities like Iran’s Fordow site.

From Salon • Jun. 21, 2025

Buyuktuncel proved to be a zone buster with his passes, finding Bona and Nwuba underneath the basket for dunks.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 14, 2024

She sat on his chest and said, “Not this time, buster, this time you pay.”

From "The Watsons Go to Birmingham" by Christopher Paul Curtis

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