bust

¹ American  

[buhst] / bʌst /

noun

1. a sculptured, painted, drawn, or engraved representation of the upper part of the human figure, especially a portrait sculpture showing only the head and shoulders of the subject.

2. the chest or breast, especially a woman's bosom.

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bust ² American  

[buhst] / bʌst /

verb (used without object)

• busts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• busted,
  past participle,  past
• bust,
  past participle,  past
• busting
  present participle

1. Informal.

   1. to burst.

   2. to go bankrupt.

   3. to collapse from the strain of making a supreme effort.

      She was determined to make straight A's or bust.

2. Cards.

   1. Draw Poker. to fail to make a flush or straight by one card.

   2. Blackjack. to draw cards exceeding the count of 21.

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verb (used with object)

• busts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• busted,
  past participle,  past
• bust,
  past participle,  past
• busting
  present participle

1. Informal.

   1. to burst.

   2. to bankrupt; ruin financially.

2. to demote, especially in military rank or grade.

   He was busted from sergeant to private three times.

3. to tame; break.

   to bust a bronco.

4. Slang.

   1. to place under arrest.

      The gang was busted and put away on narcotics charges.

   2. to subject to a police raid.

      The bar has been busted three times for selling drinks to minors.

5. Informal.

   1. to hit.

   2. to break; fracture.

      She fell and busted her arm.

noun

1. a failure.

2. Informal. a hit; sock; punch.

   He got a bust in the nose before he could put up his hands.

3. a sudden decline in the economic conditions of a country, marked by an extreme drop in stock-market prices, business activity, and employment; depression.

4. Slang.

   1. an arrest.

   2. a police raid.

5. Informal. a drinking spree; binge.

6. Cards.

   1. a very weak hand.

   2. Bridge. a hand lacking the potential to take a single trick.

adjective

1. Informal. bankrupt; broke.

verb phrase

1. bust up

   1. to break up; separate.

      Sam and his wife busted up a year ago.

   2. to damage or destroy.

      Soldiers got in a fight and busted up the bar.

idioms

1. bust ass, to fight with the fists; strike or thrash another.

2. bust on,

   1. to attack physically; beat up.

   2. to criticize or reprimand harshly.

   3. to make fun of or laugh at; mock.

   4. to inform on.

3. bust one's ass, to make an extreme effort; exert oneself.

bust ¹ British  

/ bʌst /

verb

1. to burst or break

2. to make or become bankrupt

3. (tr) (of the police) to raid, search, or arrest

   the girl was busted for drugs

4. (tr) to demote, esp in military rank

5. (tr) to break or tame (a horse, etc)

6. (tr) to punch; hit

7. See gut

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noun

1. a raid, search, or arrest by the police

2. a punch; hit

3. a failure, esp a financial one; bankruptcy

4. a drunken party

adjective

1. broken

2. bankrupt

3. to become bankrupt

bust ² British  

/ bʌst /

noun

1. the chest of a human being, esp a woman's bosom

2. a sculpture of the head, shoulders, and upper chest of a person

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bust More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing bust

• break (bust) one's ass
• go broke (bust)

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Usage

What does or bust mean? The phrase or bust is used when someone is pursuing an end no matter what, even if they fail trying. Saying New York City or bust, for example, means someone is doing absolutely everything to go there. How is or bust pronounced?[ awr buhst ]

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• busting
  present
• bust
  past
• busted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• bust
  simple
• busts
  simple
• have bust
  perfect
• have busted
  perfect
• has bust
  perfect
• has busted
  perfect
• am busting
  progressive
• are busting
  progressive
• is busting
  progressive
• have been busting
  perfect progressive
• has been busting
  perfect progressive

Past

• bust
  simple
• busted
  simple
• had bust
  perfect
• had busted
  perfect
• was busting
  progressive
• were busting
  progressive
• had been busting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will bust
  simple
• will have bust
  perfect
• will have busted
  perfect
• will be busting
  progressive
• will have been busting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of bust¹

First recorded in 1640–50; from French buste, from Italian busto, probably from Latin bustum “funeral pyre, ashes, grave mound, tomb,” presumably by association with the busts erected over graves

Origin of bust²

First recorded in 1755–65; variant of burst, by loss of r before s, as in ass ², bass ², passel, etc.

Explanation

If you bust something, you have broken it. A bust can also be a statue of someone from the shoulders up. Be careful to not bust a bust on your next field trip! Several meanings of bust are pretty discouraging. You might describe your business as bust if it's totally out of money, for example. Or you might threaten your younger sister, "If you bust my ceramic unicorn, you're in big trouble!" There's also the kind of bust that might sit on your piano, like a bust of Mozart or Bach — a statue of a person's head and upper shoulders. This is the oldest meaning of the word, from the Italian busto, "upper body."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bust busts busted busting

The global financial crisis and the bear market of the early 2000s after the internet bust were driven by fear and panic.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026

The Cardinals’ Joshua Báez was at risk of turning into a bust.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

Puzzled, Gatwood lifted the big block and flipped it over to reveal it was a very large bust of a woman, weighing about 150 pounds.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

When the dot-com boom and bust of 1998-2002 started, Dom Rizzo, the global technology equity fund manager at T. Rowe Price, was only five years old.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026

‘Less us just this one day. Please, Father. I feels like I going to really bust loose. Besides, I don’t want you messing around in the streets by yourself.’

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

Kreitzman also has a curator - Jaime Freestone , external- who often stays over and keeps displays like the one with a multitude of ancient Egyptian busts and doll heads in order.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

These fraud busts will not make a material difference.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026

Communities soon removed statues and busts of him and scrubbed his name from streets, parks and schools.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026

His 1770s busts of Denis Diderot and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and especially his sculpture of a seated Voltaire, have influenced ever since how the French picture their philosophes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

“I don’t quite understand the need for all this secrecy. Don’t law enforcement agencies usually want to publicize big arrests? Aren’t smuggling busts public information?”

From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Newly appointed BBC chief Matt Brittin recently described the licence fee as a "busted flush"

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

Louis, in comparison, is kinda busted — gloomy, tortured, unable to fully embrace the everlasting banquet Lestat has laid out for him.

From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026

“If you went to the hospital with a busted knee, they would fix it, and that would cost more than an IVF cycle.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026

Wildlife officers have busted an illegal cockroach-breeding operation in rural Australia, seizing a skin-crawling haul worth more than $100,000 on the black market for exotic bugs.

From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026

“Anyway, if you’re expecting some big news about how I’m some lesbian or whatever because I got busted at a gay club, then you’re fresh out of luck.”

From "Ask the Passengers" by A.S. King

Humanoid robots marched through Chicago’s convention center last week, delivering snacks, shaking hands and busting out dance moves.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 4, 2026

The Sweet 16 round of the tournament begins on Thursday night, and some of the top earners can be found still scoring baskets and busting brackets.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 25, 2026

The MoD said the Marinera was on its way to Russia and it backed the action against "sanction busting" activity by "shadow fleets" which it said was in compliance with international law.

From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2026

In another, a TCU running back was busting his way through tackles on third and long, rumbling his way into the end zone, deflating any delusions of grandeur.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 31, 2025

If Grandfather were here, he’d be busting his buttons by now.

From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson

Related Words

• apprehend
• detain
• pinch