Etymology 1
Apparently from French busquer or Spanish buscar .
Verb
busk (third-person singular simple present busks , present participle busking , simple past and past participle busked )
( intransitive ) To solicit money by entertaining the public in the street or in public transport.
( transitive , obsolete ) To sell articles such as obscene books in public houses etc.
1827 , Robert Pollok , The Course of Time :The frothy orator, who busked his tales In quackish pomp of noisy words
( nautical ) To tack , cruise about.
Translations
to solicit money by entertaining the public
Chinese:
Mandarin: 卖艺 (zh) ( màiyì )
Dutch: please add this translation if you can
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: esiintyä kadulla
French: please add this translation if you can
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: Straßenmusik machen
Irish: buscáil
Italian: suonare per strada
Japanese: please add this translation if you can
Korean: please add this translation if you can
Latin: aeruscō
Maori: whakangahau pati
Norman: beustchi ( Jersey )
Russian: играть музыку на улице ( igratʹ muzyku na ulice )
Spanish: actuar ambulantemente ( actor ) , ejecutar ambulantemente ( musician )
Swedish: underhålla på gatan
Thai: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: please add this translation if you can
Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
Welsh: clera
nautical: to tack
— see tack
Etymology 2
Borrowed from French busc , from Italian busco ( “ splinter ” ) .
Noun
busk (plural busks )
A strip of metal, whalebone , wood, or other material, worn in the front of a corset to stiffen it.
1598 , John Marston , The Scourge of Villanie :Her long slit sleeves, stiffe buske , puffe verdingall, / Is all that makes her thus angelicall.
( by extension ) A corset .
1661 , John Donne , To his Mistress going to Bed :Off with that happy busk , which I envie, / That still can be, and still can stand so nigh.
Translations
stiffening strip in the front of a corset
Bulgarian: банел ( banel )
Finnish: plansetti
French: busc (fr) m
Irish: righneadóir (cóirséid) m
Etymology 3
Etymology unknown .
Noun
busk
( obsolete ) A kind of linen .
1882 , James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England , volume 4, page 557 :Busk , a kind of table linen, occurs first in 1458, and occasionally afterwards.
Etymology 4
From Middle English busken , from Old Norse búask .
Verb
busk (third-person singular simple present busks , present participle busking , simple past and past participle busked )
( transitive , Northern England , Scotland ) To prepare ; to make ready; to array ; to dress .
1600 , [ Torquato Tasso ] , “(please specify |book=1 to 20) ”, in Edward Fairefax [ i.e. , Edward Fairfax ] , transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. [ … ] , London: [ … ] Ar[ nold] Hatfield, for I[ saac] Iaggard and M[ atthew] Lownes, →OCLC :The watch stert up and drew their weapons bright / And busk'd them bold to battle and to fight.
( Northern England , Scotland ) To go ; to direct one's course.
c. 1550 , John Skelton , Skelton Laureate against the Scottes :Ye might have busked you to Huntly-banks.
Noun
busk c (singular definite busken , plural indefinite buske )
bush
Declension
More information common gender, Singular ...
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busk
References
“busk” in The Bokmål Dictionary .
References
“busk” in The Nynorsk Dictionary .
References
Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland , London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867 , page 28