Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

bus1

[buhs]
noun, plural bus·es, bus·ses.
  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. 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. Electricity. Also called bus bar, bus·bar [buhs-bahr] /ˈbʌsˌbɑr/. 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.
Show More
verb (used with object), bused or bussed, bus·ing or bus·sing.
  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.
Show More
verb (used without object), bused or bussed, bus·ing or bus·sing.
  1. to travel on or by means of a bus: We bused to New York on a theater trip.
Show More
Idioms
  1. throw under the bus. throw(def 57).
Show More

Origin of bus1

1825–35; short for omnibus; (def 6) short for omnibus bar
Can be confusedbussed bust
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for bus's

bus

noun plural buses or busses
  1. a large motor vehicle designed to carry passengers between stopping places along a regular routeMore formal name: omnibus Sometimes called: motorbus
  2. short for trolleybus
  3. (modifier) of or relating to a bus or busesa 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. miss the bus to miss an opportunity; be too late
Show More
verb buses, busing, bused, busses, bussing or bussed
  1. to travel or transport by bus
  2. mainly US and Canadian to transport (children) by bus from one area to a school in another in order to create racially integrated classes
Show More

Word Origin

C19: short for omnibus
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

Word Origin and History for bus's

bus

n.

1832, abbreviation of omnibus (q.v.). The modern English noun is nothing but a Latin dative plural ending. To miss the bus, in the figurative sense of "lose an opportunity," is from 1901, Australian English (OED has a figurative miss the omnibus from 1886). Busman's holiday "leisure time spent doing what one does for a living" (1893) is probably a reference to London bus drivers riding the buses on their days off.

Show More

bus

v.

1838, "to travel by omnibus," from bus (n.). Transitive meaning "transport students to integrate schools" is from 1961, American English. Meaning "clear tables in a restaurant" is first attested 1913, probably from the four-wheeled cart used to carry dishes. Related: Bused; busing.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper