bus·y  (b ĭz ē)
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adj. bus·i·er, bus·i·est 1. Engaged in activity, as work; occupied. See Synonyms at active. 2. Characterized by or sustaining much activity: a busy morning; a busy street. 3. Being a busybody; meddlesome; prying. 4. Being in use, as a telephone line. 5. Cluttered with detail to the point of being distracting: a busy design. tr.v. bus·ied, bus·y·ing, bus·ies To make busy; occupy: busied myself preparing my tax return.
[Middle English bisi, busi, from Old English bysig.]
busi·ly adv. busy·ness n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices
Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:
Indo-European Roots
Semitic Roots
The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.
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