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
1 American
[buhs]
/ bʌs /
noun
-
buses,
plural
-
busses
plural
-
a large motor vehicle, having a long body, equipped with seats or benches for passengers, usually operating as part of a scheduled service; omnibus.
-
(formerly) a similar horse-drawn vehicle.
-
a passenger automobile or airplane used in a manner resembling that of a bus.
-
any vehicle operated to transport children to school.
-
a low, movable filing cabinet.
-
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.
-
Computers. a circuit that connects the CPU with other devices in a computer.
verb (used with object)
bused,
bussed,
busing,
bussing
-
to convey or transport by bus.
to bus the tourists to another hotel.
-
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
idioms
bus
2
American
[buhs]
/ bʌs /
verb (used with or without object)
bused,
bussed,
busing,
bussing
bus.
3
American
abbreviation
bus
British
/ bʌs /
noun
-
Sometimes called: motorbus. More formal name: omnibus. a large motor vehicle designed to carry passengers between stopping places along a regular route
-
short for trolleybus
-
(modifier) of or relating to a bus or buses
a bus driver
a bus station
-
informal a car or aircraft, esp one that is old and shaky
-
electronics computing short for busbar
-
the part of a MIRV missile payload containing the re-entry vehicles and guidance and thrust devices
-
astronautics a platform in a space vehicle used for various experiments and processes
-
to miss an opportunity; be too late
verb
-
to travel or transport by bus
-
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
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
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
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:
Arriving in Ukraine on Saturday by bus, residents whom AFP interviewed painted a dire picture of life in the city.
From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2026
The state-owned Belarusian news agency Belta reported a bus convoy of Oleshky residents had left Gomel airport and was heading towards the Ukrainian border.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026
Additions like a full bus system, detailed non-player characters and a much, much larger map all have gamers itching to start playing.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 31, 2026
Rome is one of those airports where you take a bus to passport control and baggage claim, at least on certain airlines including American.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Jonah looked up to see the bus driver in the aisle in front of them.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
"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
“There’s a stigma attached to riding the bus. Going to microtransit and nontraditional vehicles removed that stigma.”
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 15, 2023
"I noticed her getting nervous about getting the bus. Then at night she started to cry," she said.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2023
“He was thrown under the bus. He is not a criminal.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 7, 2023
“Only twenty cents each. That’s forty cents total. No bus. We’ll walk.”
From "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E.L. Konigsburg
An AFP journalist saw the residents, some draped in Ukrainian flags, disembark from buses and tearfully embrace their loved ones in emotional scenes.
From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2026
Families were reunited at a site in the region of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine after arriving in buses and ambulances.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026
California’s Clean Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project offers point-of-sale discounts on zero-emission trucks and buses and has distributed $1 billion so far.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
Humanitarian aid and evacuation buses will begin arriving later in the week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
He rode subways and buses, learning the routes and stops.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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
Most of the Afghan nationals were brought to the centers in rickety busses, some of them handcuffed.
From Reuters ● Nov. 1, 2023
They went to Washington for protest marches, and Morrie often rode the busses with his students.
From "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom
Others have bused to airports in Bahrain and Qatar to both exit and enter the kingdom.
From Barron's ● Oct. 19, 2026
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
Once they were registered, the families with their bags and their pets were bused to Lozova station, to board a long train heading for Lviv in western Ukraine.
From BBC ● Feb. 24, 2026
Immigration agents caught him and bused him to Tapachula.
From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario
“Sound of Freedom” had church groups busing to theaters to watch the movie in hordes.
From Salon ● May 3, 2026
Robert Docter, an L.A. school board member in the 1970s who successfully pushed to end corporal punishment and who sacrificed his political career trying to integrate campuses through busing, has died at 97.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2025
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
Instead, the city is busing students to schools that have extra space.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2025
Whitney Young was named for a civil rights activist and had been opened in 1975 as a positive-minded alternative to busing.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Evacuees from surrounding villages were bussed in to shelter in sports halls around the capital.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 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
Not wishing to discard its "magnificent tubers" back into the fields, Osterland Agrar says it's set to have bussed around 500,000kg to Berlin, and other parts of Germany and Ukraine.
From BBC ● Jan. 29, 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
For much of the week, Lira is either in the kitchen working as a prep cook or in the dining room bussing tables.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 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 ● Nov. 27, 2024
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
“I’ve only played three games. It’s kind of crazy. Come back from not going to training camp and bussing kids around?”
From Washington Times ● Dec. 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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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
