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• bus
  bus

  noun

  a large motor vehicle, having a long body, equipped with seats or benches for passengers, usually operating as part of a scheduled service; omnibus.
• bus.
  bus.

  abbreviation

  business.

bus

¹ American  

[buhs] / bʌs /

noun

• buses,
  plural
• busses
  plural

1. a large motor vehicle, having a long body, equipped with seats or benches for passengers, usually operating as part of a scheduled service; omnibus.

2. (formerly) a similar horse-drawn vehicle.

3. a passenger automobile or airplane used in a manner resembling that of a bus.

4. any vehicle operated to transport children to school.

5. a low, movable filing cabinet.

6. Also called busbar, bus bar. Electricity. a heavy conductor, often made of copper in the shape of a bar, used to collect, carry, and distribute powerful electric currents, as those produced by generators.

7. Computers. a circuit that connects the CPU with other devices in a computer.

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verb (used with object)

bused, bussed, busing, bussing

1. to convey or transport by bus.

   to bus the tourists to another hotel.

2. to transport (pupils) to school by bus, especially as a means of achieving socioeconomic or racial diversity among students in a public school.

verb (used without object)

bused, bussed, busing, bussing

1. to travel on or by means of a bus.

   We bused to New York on a theater trip.

idioms

1. throw (someone or something) under the bus, to abandon or sacrifice to an imminent negative outcome for expedience or profit, or to protect oneself and one's interests.

   The accused was asked to testify against Tony, but he refused to save himself by throwing his pal under the bus.

bus ² American  

[buhs] / bʌs /

verb (used with or without object)

bused, bussed, busing, bussing

1. to work or act as a busboy or busgirl.

   She bused for her meals during her student days.

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bus. ³ American  

abbreviation

1. business.

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bus British  

/ bʌs /

noun

1. Sometimes called: motorbus. More formal name: omnibus. a large motor vehicle designed to carry passengers between stopping places along a regular route

2. short for trolleybus

3. (modifier) of or relating to a bus or buses

   a bus driver

   a bus station

4. informal a car or aircraft, esp one that is old and shaky

5. electronics computing short for busbar

6. the part of a MIRV missile payload containing the re-entry vehicles and guidance and thrust devices

7. astronautics a platform in a space vehicle used for various experiments and processes

8. to miss an opportunity; be too late

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verb

1. to travel or transport by bus

2. to transport (children) by bus from one area to a school in another in order to create racially integrated classes

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• buses
  plural
• busses
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of bus¹

First recorded in 1825–35; short for omnibus; bus ¹ def. 6 short for omnibus bar

Origin of bus²

First recorded in 1830–40; back formation from busboy

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Explanation

A bus is a long vehicle with many seats. An elementary school student might save a seat on the school bus each morning for her best friend. A city bus carries far more passengers than a private car, which makes it an efficient form of transportation. When bus is used as a verb, it means to transport by bus, sometimes in an effort to desegregate a school district: "The city will bus students from this neighborhood to the other side of town." It also means "to clear a table" in restaurant lingo, which is often done by a "bus boy" or a "busser."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bus bus. buses busses bused busing bussed bussing

Student activist Neha Bora was also detained and taken away in a bus by police as she was leading a march close to Central Park on Friday, AFP journalists witnessed.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

The bus driver and one passenger were severely injured and evacuated by helicopter.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

Metro bus said she saw the drama unfold in broad daylight.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026

This will be brought into sharper focus after incidents before a Champions League quarter-final at Anfield in April 2018, when City's team bus was attacked with bottles and flares when it arrived before the game.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026

I shivered as we got off the bus and stepped down to the sidewalk in front of the school.

From "Firegirl" by Tony Abbott

"There were no other vehicles involved -- only the bus. And that bus caught fire... we are currently trying to determine the precise reason why this happened," Papaux told reporters.

From Barron's ● Mar. 11, 2026

"I literally today will go on a bus. People will see me either put their heads down or they will start the conversation," she says.

From BBC ● Feb. 15, 2026

“We’re now sleeping on the bus. There’s nothing happening. We’re just idling there forever.”

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 15, 2024

“If he owns the bus. If he owns it. If he owns the bus, Iyanla,” Williams replied after a moment of hesitation.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2023

“Naw. Not outside. I’ll show you on the bus. I was going to show you this morning, but you were too busy recovering from my snowball assault to get to the bus stop on time.”

From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu

They needed to lower the carriageway by around 16 inches to let standard double-decker buses pass under the bridges.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Some migrants fled into nearby hills to avoid being put on buses.

From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026

Rail replacement buses are in place at Birmingham, Stafford and Wolverhampton.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

Police said the buses were hit with a glide bomb.

From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026

The spectators are gathered around a short, youngish man who is walking from his car, which is parked in the no parking zone where the buses pick up and drop off.

From "Linked" by Gordon Korman

After graduating from college, Batter moves to New York, where he folds shirts at the Gap and busses tables at a restaurant named Just Okay.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

Long before cars were common and busses were running, residents still got around on the backs of their horse carts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

“What moderates are worried about is not just the ideas that he has run on like free busses and, you know, grocery stores, that kind of thing,” Bennett said.

From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2025

He said: "Four busses for hundreds of people coming to an airport? Four busses? We're all standing here and nobody can go anywhere."

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2023

Where my mother changed busses she'd gone into a store and bought him a trowel and four packets of seeds.

From "Seedfolks" by Paul Fleischman

Passengers make their way through normal security in Dubai to a gate further back in the airport, then get bused across the tarmac to walk aboard the plane.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

In August 2024, Novo Nordisk bused its employees to the sprawling Roskilde fairgrounds outside Copenhagen for its annual summer party.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026

After evacuating the plane, the passengers were bused back to the terminal as emergency crews responded to the scene, DIA said.

From BBC ● May 9, 2026

Harris’ ambitions bloomed at Thousand Oaks Elementary, where she was among the first bused to a new school as part of Berkeley’s voluntary desegregation program while other parts of the country resisted merging districts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2024

At that point, 2,900 of the 3,200 marchers were bused back to Selma, where many would stay as guests of black families until rejoining the marchers near Montgomery.

From "Because They Marched" by Russell Freedman

“Sound of Freedom” had church groups busing to theaters to watch the movie in hordes.

From Salon ● May 3, 2026

Working long hours doing a bit of everything—right down to busing tables—Meyer ate one at the end of almost every lunch shift.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025

Providing this busing was one of many elements considered in the complex project.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2025

Daryl, 42, a self-described conservative, lived in several Southern communities as a child, including Charlotte, North Carolina, in the mid-1980s as the city wrestled with its court-ordered school busing program.

From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2025

He had been a superintendent for a number of rural school districts in Mississippi, where he had spent his life forming busing systems and magnet schools to better integrate the black and white students.

From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson

The Pakistan team were bussed to the wrong arena for their game with Uzbekistan the same day, delaying the start of their match by 45 minutes.

From Barron's ● Sep. 29, 2026

Some could be seen clad in blue protective gear as they were bussed from the Granadilla de Abona port to Tenerife South Airport.

From BBC ● May 10, 2026

So, I would spend summers being bussed out or sleeping out at cousins and grandparents and aunts and uncles’ houses to work on the farm.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026

Instead, they were taken by military plane directly to Panama, did not go through customs upon arrival and were immediately detained in the hotel until they were bussed to the camp.

From Salon ● Mar. 3, 2025

Mari and Yolanda served tables while other friends and family bussed or ran food or prepared drinks for guests.

From "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora" by Pablo Cartaya

At times, Kansteiner says, she’ll find Velador in the dining room bussing tables to help because she knows the restaurant’s staff is overwhelmed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2025

Under US diplomatic pressure, Mexico has been conducting its largest ever migrant crackdown, bussing and flying non-Mexican migrants to the country's south, far from the US border.

From BBC ● Jan. 19, 2025

That money's up to over $100 million today, but the point is that with all of the negotiations, all that prospecting, the guy that was bussing the table had the most money in the room.

From Salon ● May 18, 2024

Riverside also is bussing kids in who were displaced to another district — over 30 miles from the Central Valley School District, over 15 miles from Mead and from Deer Park.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 21, 2023

I even like bussing tables in the restaurant, chatting with guests when I have a chance, and swapping stories with my coworkers.

From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day

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