Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
adjective, bus·i·er, bus·i·est.
- actively and attentively engaged in work or a pastime: busy with her work.
- not at leisure; otherwise engaged: He couldn’t see any visitors because he was busy.
- full of or characterized by activity: a busy life.
- (of a telephone line) in use by a party or parties and not immediately accessible.
- officious; meddlesome; prying.
- ornate, disparate, or clashing in design or colors; cluttered with small, unharmonious details; fussy: The rug is too busy for this room.
verb (used with object), bus·ied, bus·y·ing.
- to keep occupied; make or keep busy: In summer, he busied himself keeping the lawn in order.
adjective busier or busiest
- actively or fully engaged; occupied
- crowded with or characterized by activitya busy day
- mainly US and Canadian (of a room, telephone line, etc) in use; engaged
- overcrowded with detaila busy painting
- meddlesome; inquisitive; prying
verb busies, busying or busied
- (tr) to make or keep (someone, esp oneself) busy; occupy
adj.Old English bisig “careful, anxious,” later “continually employed or occupied,” cognate with Old Dutch bezich, Low German besig; no known connection with any other Germanic or Indo-European language. Still pronounced as in Middle English, but for some unclear reason the spelling shifted to -u- in 15c. The notion of “anxiousness” has drained from the word since Middle English. Often in a bad sense in early Modern English, “prying, meddlesome” (preserved in busybody). The word was a euphemism for “sexually active” in 17c. Of telephone lines, 1893. Of display work, “excessively detailed, visually cluttered,” 1903. v.late Old English bisgian, from busy (adj.). Related: Busied; busying. In addition to the idioms beginning with busy
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