busk

UK/bʌsk/US/bʌsk/

verbC1Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechleans written

Other forms: busking, busked, busks

To busk is to play in the street for coins. Busking on the corner, busk for a living, a busking licence.

Many cities licence pitches and audition for them, which turns busking into a competitive trade rather than a last resort. A great many well-known musicians started by busking, and several still do it unannounced.

Definitions of busk

1verbbuskTo play in the street for coins.C1
“On weekends he busks outside the station with his guitar and a hat on the pavement.”

busk is a performing.

Where it comes from

Apparently from French busquer or Spanish buscar, meaning to seek or to prowl.

Spanish
buscar
French
busquer
English, today
busk

Apparently from French busquer or Spanish buscar.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Music & Instruments

Practise this word

busk in the wild

A busk (also spelled busque) is a rigid element of a corset at the centre front of the garment.
Busk (corsetry)
In the middle of the nineteenth century, a new form of busk appeared.
Busk (corsetry)
As its name implies, it was shaped like a spoon, with the bottom part of the busk widening and taking a dished form.
Spoon busk
The spoon busk allowed a greater reduction in waist size without producing a bulge of flesh at the bottom edge of the corset.
Spoon busk

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the buscar family

busker busk

busk — used too rare to measure · point at the bar for the others

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