buster
(ˈbʌstə(r))
[dial. var. of burster.]
1. = burster (in unknown sense).
| 1839 New Monthly Mag. LVI. 358 We can..buy a two⁓penny buster at a baker's-shop. |
2. slang (chiefly U.S.). a. ‘Something great’ (W.); something that ‘takes one's breath away’; something that provokes excessive admiration or amusement. b. A roistering blade, a dashing fellow. Also used as a slang form of address, usu. friendly or slightly disrespectful; ‘mate’, fellow; old buster: an affectionate or disrespectful designation for an elderly man. c. A frolic; a spree.
| 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. iv. 23 Mas'r George..declared decidedly that Mose was a buster. a 1860 Thorpe Big Bear Arkansas (Bartlett), I went on, larning something every day, until I was reckened a buster, and allowed to be the best bar-hunter in my district. 1867 F. H. Ludlow Fleeing to Tarshish 176 The rector's growing reputation for preaching busters, which is the Missourian for pulpit eloquence. 1905 H. A. Vachell Hill vi. 137 You funny old buster. 1919 Wodehouse My Man Jeeves 79 An extremely wealthy old buster. 1931 M. A. von Arnim Father ix. 213 Shall you be all right, shut up alone with that old buster? 1948 A. Seager Inheritance 174 ‘Hi-ya, buster. What's new?’ he heard a woman's coarse voice say. 1962 A. Shepard in Into Orbit 101 ‘OK, Buster,’ I said to myself, ‘you volunteered for this thing.’ 1965 P. Arrowsmith Jericho xix. 199 If you go on accusing me of attacking you lot, buster, you'll have the police to answer to. |
3. Australia. a. A violent southern gale prevalent at Sydney. Also, any violent gale (usage not confined to Australia).
| 1848 Bartlett Dict. Amer. 57 ‘This is a buster,’ i.e. a powerful or heavy wind. 1863 F. Fowler Let. in Athenæum 21 Feb., The brick⁓fielder is..the cold wind or southerly buster, which..carries a thick cloud of dust..across the city. 1883 Times 27 Sept. 9 The port is exposed to sudden gales, known as ‘southerly busters’. 1886 Cowan Charcoal Sk., The buster and brick-fielder: Austral red-dust blizzard and red-hot simoom. 1852 G. C. Mundy Our Antipodes I. ii. 83 The Brickfielder, or, as the Port Jackson boatmen call it, the S{uacu}therly B{uacu}ster! 1888 Longman's Mag. Apr. 630 In New Zealand there are the Southerly Busters, following the dry hot ‘nor'-wester’. 1935 ‘L. Luard’ Conquering Seas xvii. 231 Flamers in sky. Northerly buster, I'm thinking. 1952 A. Grimble Pattern of Islands v. 107 If the northerly buster takes your mainsail aback close-hauled to the south-easter. 1953 F. Robb Sea Hunters vi. 59 Whatever was on the way would be no normal line squall—no summer ‘buster’! 1956 S. Hope Diggers' Paradise viii. 71 Sometimes the south wind or a ‘south-westerly buster’ puts a chill on the city [sc. Sydney]. |
b. = burster 1 c. to come a buster: to be thrown from a horse, ‘to come a cropper’. Also fig.
| 1928 ‘Brent of Bin Bin’ Up Country xi. 184 The fancy riding resulted in ‘busters’ galore to skilled and unskilled. 1952 D. Niland in Coast to Coast 1951–2 198 She doesn't look like having a buster. 1968 Sunday Truth (Brisbane) 30 June 20 The Australian Government has come an incredible double buster on the design for its Vietnam campaign medal. |
4. A horse-breaker. (Cf. bronco-buster s.v. bronco.) U.S.
| 1891 Harper's Mag. July 208/2 The buster must be careful to keep well away from sheds and timber. 1903 Wide World Mag. Apr. 545 On a large ranch which employs many cowboys, there is much rivalry among them as to who is the best rider or buster. |