▪ I. buzz, n.1
(bʌz)
Also 7 buzze, 8 Sc. bizz, 7– buz.
[f. buzz v.1]
1. a. A sibilant hum, such as is made by bees, flies, and other winged insects.
| 1645 Milton Colast. Wks. (1851) 348 A Reply to the buzze of such a Drones nest. 1787 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Sir T. Banks & Emp. Morocco 20 Prodigious was the buz about his ears. 1808 Allen & Pepys in Phil. Trans. XCVIII. 262 That buzz in the ears which is noticed in breathing nitrous oxide. 1878 R. W. Gilder Poet & Master 17 The honey bees Swarm by with buzz and boom. |
b. Phonetics. A voiced hiss (see hiss n. 1 b).
| 1877 Sweet Handbk. Phonetics 79 The voiced buzzes admit of more variety than the voiced stops. 1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 383 A hiss (s), followed without a positional glide by the buzz (z). 1888 Sweet Hist. Eng. Sounds 24 Some consonants..are pronounced with..a complete absence of buzz. 1908 ― Sounds of English 43 The English r is vowellike in sound, being quite free from buzz. |
c. A round game in which each player in turn utters a number in numerical order, with the exception that ‘buz(z)’ must be substituted for 7 and multiples of 7.
| 1864 Hotten Slang Dict. 91 Buz, a well-known flash game. 1868 L. M. Alcott Little Women iii, They..were in the midst of a quiet game of ‘buzz’. |
d. spec. The buzzing sound made by a telephone. Hence slang, a telephone call.
| 1913 G. B. Shaw Let. 14 July (1952) 132, I rang a second time, but the answer was buzz, buzz. 1930 Punch 26 Feb. 236 One of the cops..directed another to beat it to his desk and give headquarters a buzz. 1938 E. Bowen Death of Heart i. ii. 38 The Quaynes had a room-to-room telephone, which, instead of ringing, let out a piercing buzz. 1959 G. Usher Death in Bag xii. 128 Shall I give him a buzz? |
2. transf. a. The confused or mingled sound made by a number of people talking or busily occupied; busy talk, ‘hum’; hence, a condition of busy activity, stir, ferment.
| 1627 Feltham Resolves i. xv. Wks. (1677) 23 The frothy buzze of the world. 1629 Ford Lover's Mel. iv. ii. (1839) 17 The buzz of drugs, and minerals and simples. 1647 Cowley Mistr. i. (1669) 22 The Crowd, and Buz, and Murmurings Of this great Hive, the City. 1678 Rymer Trag. Last Age Consid. 13 All the buz in Athens was now about vertue. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 403 ¶3, I found the whole..Room in a Buz of Politicks. 1760 Mrs. Delany Autobiog. (1861) III. 604 The buz and bustle of unpacking. 1805 Southey Madoc in W. viii, The clamour and the buz Ceased. 1824 Carlyle W. Meister (1874) I. ii. xi. 111 A buzz of joyful approbation. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 549 A buzz of conversation. 1875 Blackmore Maid of Sk. lvii. 388 My brain was in a buzz. |
b. A feeling of excitement or euphoria, esp. one induced by a stimulant; a thrill, a ‘kick’. slang (orig. U.S.).
| 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §277/2 Thrill; ‘kick’. (As in ‘get a kick out of’.)..buzz. 1952 Amer. Speech XXVII. 24 Buzz, the effect of a drug; the feeling under the influence of drug. 1962 J. Baldwin Another Country i. i. 26 He felt..on top of everything, and he had a mild buzz on. 1967 M. M. Glatt et al. Drug Scene iii. 39 Unable to get a buzz from the drugs George began to get a kick from the acts necessary for injecting the drugs. 1976 New Musical Express 17 Apr. 19/6 It must be a real buzz for the musicians who're playing with Wings to be playing with an ex-Beatle. 1978 J. Krantz Scruples vi. 166 She walked up Rodeo or down Camden, feeling a sexual buzz as she searched the windows for new merchandise. 1983 Times 7 Mar. 3/1 Some players get a ‘buzz’ from the game [of Space Invaders] and that might explain why they become addicted. |
3. fig. a. A groundless fancy, whim, ‘fad’: (cf. bee1 5.) Obs. b. A busy rumour.
| 1605 Shakes. Lear i. iv. 348 On euerie dreame, Each buz, each fancie. 1612 Chapman Widowes T. Wks. 1873 III. 24 'Twas but a buzz devised by him. 1639 Fuller Holy War ii. xli. (1840) 106 This suspicion..though at first but a buzz, soon got a sting in the king's head. 1646 Buck Rich. III, iii. 103 Buzes and quaint devises, to amaze the people. 1656 Sir J. Finett For. Ambass. 13 Some new buz gotten into his Braine. 1825 Cobbett Rur. Rides 23 A sort of buz got about. 1892 Lugard Diary 8 June (1959) III. viii. 290 Juma..asked him if he had heard of this. He said Yes, but not from any responsible chief, merely a buzz through the country. 1919 ‘Etienne’ Strange Tales fr. Fleet 135 There's a buzz floating round that we are slipping off at 8 p.m. 1962 B. Knox Little Drops of Blood iii. 62 There's a strong buzz on the go that his team are building some new engine. |
4. Short for buzz-saw; see 5.
| 1823 Mechanic's Mag. No. 7. 108 The Shakers sometimes made use of what he called a buzz to cut iron. He made a circular plate of soft sheet-iron, and put it in his lathe, which gave it a very rapid rotary motion. |
5. Comb., as buzz-bomb colloq. = flying bomb; buzz-box slang = buzz-wagon; buzz-fly, a fly that buzzes, ? a bluebottle; buzz-planer, a small wood-planing machine (Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. a 1884); buzz-saw, a circular saw; buzz-wagon slang, a motorcar; buzzword (orig. and chiefly U.S.), a keyword; a catchword or expression currently fashionable; a term used more to impress than to inform, esp. a technical or jargon term; also buzz-phrase.
| 1944 in News Rev. 10 May (1945) 7/1 The Germans sent over 11 pilotless planes or ‘Buzz-bombs’. 1946 Amer. Speech XXI. 246 The V-1 was in the U.S. and British official parlance a flying bomb... The troops, however, generally called it a buzz bomb, probably because it normally came in at rather low altitude, reminiscent of an airplane buzzing the ground. |
| 1920 ‘Sapper’ Bull-dog Drummond x. 264 How long will it take me to get the old buzz-box to Laidley Towers? 1934 Passing Show 12 May 10/1 Ring up Mason's yard..and ask 'em to send round the old buzz-box. |
| 1848 E. Leatham Charmione (1858) I. 250 A great greedy buzzfly. 1868 Pall Mall G. 1843/2 The only food for buzz⁓flies. |
| 1977 Canadian 12 Nov. 19/2 For a lot of us, Affirmative Action was very much an IWY buzz-phrase like Total Fulfillment, Consciousness raising or even that tired old tease Why-Not! |
| 1858 Varieties (San Francisco) 17 July 3/1 ‘Any taste for music?’ ‘Strong. Buzz and buck saws in the day time, and wolf howling and cat fighting nights.’ 1886 Sat. Rev. 31 July 142 The characteristic and picturesque Americanism for a circular saw—‘a buzz saw’. 1897 ‘Mark Twain’ Following Equator xxxiv. 313 Whizzing green Ballarat flies..with..stunning buzz-saw noise. |
| 1914 Dialect Notes IV. 104 Buzz-wagon, automobile. 1918 Wodehouse Piccadilly Jim xxi. 197 Dere's a buzz-waggon outside, waitin'. 1923 ‘Ian Hay’ Lucky Number ix. 253 Let's go to the stable and start up your little friend's buzz-wagon. |
| 1946 Amer. Speech XXI. 263/1 Students at the Graduate School of Business Administration at Harvard University use a specialized vocabulary known as ‘buzz words’ to describe the key to any particular course or situation. 1968 Scottish Daily Mail 7 Aug. 6 The possibilities of a send-up were spotted by the First National City Bank of America which gives its customers what it calls the Instant Buzzword Generator. ‘Technology’, it says, ‘has created a new type of jargon that is nearly as incomprehensible as it is sophisticated.’ With the card ‘you can generate an almost endless variety of intelligent-sounding technical terms’. 1980 Time 28 Jan. 90/1 The air is thick with devalued buzz words, including ‘buzz words’. |
▸ buzz cut n. an extremely short haircut in which the hair takes on a bristly appearance.
| 1983M. Laidlaw 400 Boys in Omni Nov. 86/3 His *buzzcut is scraped to nothing. 1995 Entertainm. Weekly 14 Apr. 44/1 A platinum-blond fringed buzz cut..brings out the razory thrust of her lips and cheeks. |
▸ buzzkill n. N. Amer. slang a person who or thing which dampens enthusiasm or enjoyment; a killjoy, a ‘downer’.
| 1992 Village Voice (N.Y.) 28 Jan. 51/4 This February-December romance would allow the old gal to stretch herself past providing the show's weekly racist *buzz-kill. 2003 M. McCafferty Second Helpings 72, I will try not to be such a buzzkill. If I succeed, I will write happy journal entries. |
▪ II. buzz, n.2
[perh. onomatopoeic, with the general sense of ‘loose down’, ‘flocky substance’: cf. fuzz, and buzzy a.2 In sense 1 the dialectical buzz may really be for burs: cf. the s.w. vuzzes, vuzzen, pl. of vuzz = furze, in OE. and ME. fyrs.]
1. The rough setose or pilose seed-vessel of a plant, a bur. ‘In Suffolk the seeds of certain plants which are easily detached and stick to clothes are universally called buzzes; {oqq}bur{cqq} not being in popular use’. F. Hall. (So in the east and south of England generally.) In quot. 1612 it has been explained as the globular seeding head of the dandelion and similar plants.
| 1612 Field Wom. is Weathercock ii. i. in Hazl. Dodsley II. 37 All your virtues Are like the buzzes growing in the fields. 1877 Holderness Gloss. (E.D.S.) Buzzes, the burrs of the teazel. |
2. a. A downy land-beetle (Rhizotrogus solstitialis Latr.) used as bait; the artificial ‘fly’ made in imitation of it.
| 1760 Compleat Angler, App. 121 Marlow Buzz. 1799 G. Smith Laborat. II. 311 Buzz-brown. Dubbing, of the light brown hair of a cur. 1851 H. Newland Erne 205 Black and red buzzes. 1867 F. Francis Angling (1876) 267 The best land-beetles are the..Marlow buzz, or fern-webb. |
b. quasi-adv. With or like a ‘buzz’. Also quasi-adj. of an artificial fly (see quot. 1877).
| 1867 F. Francis Angling vi. (1880) 207 All buzz dressed flies. Ibid. 216 To dress the fly hackle fashion, or buzz, as it is termed. 1877 Hallock Sportsman's Gazetteer 599 A fly is said to be buz when the hackle is wrapped on thick and it looks ‘bushy’ as we Americans would term it. 1889 F. M. Halford Dry-Fly Fishing ix. 205 Arguments in favour of dressing spinners hackle or buzz fashion. |
▪ III. buzz, n.3 (attrib.)
(bʌz)
[? Short f. busby; or related to prec.; cf. bush, fuzz, and ‘Sergeant Buzfuz’ in Pickwick.]
1. Epithet of a large bushy wig. Also in comb. buzz-wig, a person wearing such a wig; ‘a bigwig’.
| 1798 [see 2]. 1816 Scott Antiq. xvii, The reverend gentleman was equipped in a buzz wig. 1826 Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 357 note, The full swelling burly buzz wig. 1854 De Quincey Sp. Mil. Nun Wks. III. 69 Whom the old Spanish buzwigs doated on. 1859 W. Irving in Life IV. 283 Old Dr. Rodgers with his buzz wig. |
2. transf. (See quot.)
| 1798 Anti Jacobin 22 Jan. (1852) 47 Parr's buzz prose. Footnote, This is an elegant metonymy..Buzz is an epithet usually applied to a large wig. It is here used for swelling, burly, bombastic writing. |
▪ IV. buzz, v.1
(bʌz)
Forms: 6–7 busse, buzze, 6– buz, 7– buzz, Sc. bizz.
[From the sound.]
1. intr. To make the humming sibilant sound characteristic of bees and other insects; to fly out, in, etc. with such a sound.
| 1398 [see buzzing vbl. n.1]. 1530 Palsgr. 473/1 Harke how this fleshe flye busseth. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. lvii. 241 As if ten milions of flies had ben buzzing. 1604 T. Wright Passions vi. 334 Winds do buzze about it. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 55 Waspes that buz about his Nose. 1709 Swift Tritical Ess. Wks. 1755 II. i. 142 Flies..buz..about the candle, till they burn their wings. 1790 Burns Tam O'Shanter, As bees bizz out wi' angry fyke. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Book II. 280 A fly cannot buzz..without startling his repose. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle xviii, The water was buzzing under our bows. 1879 Jefferies Wild Life in S.C. 202 If a humble-bee buzzes in at the window. |
2. a. fig. To flutter or hover (about, along, over (a)round). like a buzzing insect; to move about busily.
| 1650 T. Goodwin Wks. (1862) IV. 200 Terrors of conscience would buz about a man. 1696 View Crt. St. Germain in Select. fr. Harl. Misc. (1793) 556 The priest was always buzzing about him. 1710–11 Swift Lett. (1767) III. 81 Boys and wenches buzzing about the cake-shops like flies. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 439 ¶2 Those voluntary Informers that are buzzing about the Ears of a great Man. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) I. xvii. 122 While this man..buzzes about you. 1923 Wodehouse Inimit. Jeeves ii. 20 Anyhow, things seemed to be buzzing along quite satisfactorily. 1924 ― Leave it to Psmith i. 36 Greatest mistake go buzzing about to different dentists. 1925 T. Dreiser Amer. Tragedy (1926) ii. i. 165 Too many youths and men were already buzzing around. 1959 T. S. Eliot Elder Statesman i. 10 To have the waiters All buzzing round you. |
b. slang. To go (quickly). to buzz off: to go off or away quickly. Also to buzz in: to come in (quickly), to enter.
| 1914 E. Pugh Cockney at Home 144 ‘Here you!’ to the Cub, ‘you'd better buzz off—quick!’ 1925 A. Huxley Those Barren Leaves iv. v. 313 So I buzzed after you till I saw old Ernest wiv ve car. 1931 L. Robinson Far-Off Hills 1, Are you buzzing too? You're very short and sweet. 1938 E. Bowen Death of Heart ii. iii. 232, I asked Daphne who you were the moment you buzzed in. Ibid. iv. 241 We may buzz back here for tea. 1948 C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident ii. 19 We were just about to buzz, when the yard door opened. |
3. a. To speak indistinctly, mutter, murmur busily. (Usually somewhat contemptuous.) arch.
| 1555 Fardle Facions i. vi. 93 They..sieme rather to busse or churre betwene the tiethe then to speak. 1586 J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 22 Bussing like a preacher. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. iv. iv. 7 How euer these disturbers of our peace Buz in the peoples eares. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) II. The Vote, My Muse..Did softly buz: ‘Then let me somthing bring,’ etc. 1886 Tinsley's Mag. Sept. 227 [He] sat by my side and buzzed in my ear. |
b. To make the indistinct murmuring sound or ‘hum’ produced by a large number of people talking; to talk busily. (Also said of the place in which such talking is going on.)
| 1832 L. Hunt Sir R. Esher (1850) 98 The court buzzed like gnats in the sunshine. 1855 Browning Old Pictures in Florence, vii, The Michaels and Rafaels, you hum and buzz Round the works of. 1879 Farrar St. Paul (1883) 385 The Agora buzzed with inquiring chatter. |
c. Said of the sound or words so uttered.
| 1848 Lytton Harold iii. iii, A murmur buzzed through the hall. 1879 Dixon Windsor II. viii. 85 A whisper buzzed about the Castle that an ugly deed was likely to be done. |
4. trans. To tell in a low murmur or whisper, to communicate privately and busily. (Occas. with noun-sentence as obj., introduced by that.) arch.
| 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. (1877) 36 Having buzzed his venemous suggestions into their eares. 1609 Sir G. Paule Abp. Whitgift 9 Buzzing these conceipts into the heads of diuers young preachers. 1625 Fletcher Noble Gent. i. i, To undermine me And buz love into me. 1748 Richardson Clarissa I. xxxvi. 242 My brother continually buzzing in my father's ears that my cousin would soon arrive. 1879 Farrar St. Paul (1883) 278 Buzzing their envenomed slanders into the ears of these country people. |
5. To spread as a rumour, with whispering or busy talk.
| 1616 Purchas Pilgr., Descr. India (1864) 30 Buzzing the neerenesse and Greatnesse of the Kings power. 1639 Fuller Holy War iv. xx. (1840) 216 A bruit constantly buzzed. 1723 Steele Consc. Lovers i. i, I soon heard it buzz'd about, she was the daughter of a famous Sea-Officer. 1752 Fielding Amelia ii. iii, Our amour had already been buzzed all over the town. 1859 J. Lang Wand. India 403 It was very soon ‘buzzed about’ who was the artist. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola i. xvi. (1880) I. 234 Stories..beginning to be buzzed about. |
6. a. To utter with buzzing; to express by buzzing.
| 1763 Brit. Mag. IV. 548 All..buz the same insipid strain. 1854 Thackeray Newcomes I. 9 The professional gentlemen hummed and buzzed a sincere applause. 1855 Longfellow Hiaw. xvii. 8 He buzzed and muttered words of anger. 1863 Mrs. Oliphant Salem Ch. 107 The deacons buzzed approbation. |
b. Phonetics. To pronounce as or with a buzz. Cf. buzz n.1 1 b.
| 1877 Sweet Handbk. Phonetics 37 (j) in N[orth] G[erman] is often distinctly buzzed. Ibid., Buzzed (j) is the ordinary G. g in ‘liegen’, ‘regen’. |
† 7. With person as obj.: To whisper to, suggest to, tell privately; to incite by suggestions. Obs.
| 1637 Bastwick Litany ii. 27 They all buzze Nobles and Princes in the eare, that, etc. 1665 Surv. Aff. Netherl. 162 The nicities of Priviledges and Liberty..shall buzze the people..to Mutinies. 1692 Wagstaffe Vind. Carol. xii. 83 They..buzze the people, that it was done with the Kings Privity. |
8. a. To assail, din, or molest by buzzing. In extended use: to fly (an aircraft) fast and close to. Also buzzing vbl. n. Also transf.
| 1679 Dryden Tr. & Cr. i. i, Having his Ears buzz'd with his noisy Fame. 1683 Barnard Heylin 30 That swarm like Gnats and Flyes to buz the Head. 1884 A. A. Putnam 10 Yrs. Police Judge xiii. 155 He has..been badgered, buzzed, and besieged. 1941 Amer. Speech XVI. 164/1 Buzzing a town..in Air Corps, to fly over it. 1942 Time 14 Dec. 82/2 They said he could buzz the camouflage off the top of a hangar without touching it. 1948 in Berg Dict. New Words (1953) 49/2 Two fighters buzzed a Bristol Wayfarer. 1958 Daily Mail 18 July 1/4 The reported ‘buzzing’ of British air transports by Israeli fighters as they crossed the coast. 1959 Times 23 May 6/4 The commander said that the Chaplet..circled and ‘buzzed’ the Odinn before hitting her in the stern. 1969 Daily Tel. 17 Dec. 10/6 It can be a frightening experience to be shadowed, or ‘buzzed’ by a heavy lorry in fog. |
b. To move with buzzing; to cause to buzz.
| 1820 Keats Lamia ii. 13 Love..Hover'd and buzz'd his wings. 1865 G. Meredith Farina 74 The stranger buzzed his moustache in a pause of cool pity. |
9. To telephone or signal (a call or message) by the ‘buzzer’. to buzz off: to ring off on the telephone. Also intr. of a message: to come in by the ‘buzzer’. Hence (slang) to telephone (a person) (cf. buzz n.1 1 d).
| 1914 Pears' Christmas Ann. 20/2 Are you the Bainbridge? Then buzz off!.. You there—have you had a call from the Bainbridge? 1916 ‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 173 The telephonists..‘buzzed’ even more monotonous strings of longs and shorts on the buzzer. Ibid., The messages that had just ‘buzzed’ in over their wires. Ibid. 183 It's bad enough..to get all these messages through by voice. I haven't a dog's chance of doing it if I have to buzz each one. 1929 ‘E. Queen’ Roman Hat Myst. viii. 117, I wouldn't have buzzed you so early in the morning except that Ritter just phoned. 1956 R. Heinlein Double Star (1958) vi. 101 He's gone to his room. I'm buzzing him. |
10. To cut (wood) with a buzz-saw. U.S.
| 1925 British Weekly 5 Mar. 554/5 His home-built contraption for ‘buzzin'’ wood. |
11. To throw swiftly or forcibly. colloq.
| 1890 Kipling Many Invent. (1893) 35 Dennis buzzed his carbine after him, and it caught him on the back of his head. a 1917 E. A. Mackintosh War, the Liberator (1918) 113 If we cannae throw a live We can aye buzz a dud. 1948 C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident i. 10 The Prune buzzed a half-brick at Ted. |
▸ slang (orig. U.S.). (a) intr. Of a person: to be in a state of stimulation or excitement; to be intoxicated or ‘high’, esp. on drugs; (b) trans. (of a stimulant or experience) to intoxicate, excite, or thrill; usu. in pass. Cf. buzz n.1 2b.
| 1927I. Gershwin How Long has this been going On? in R. Kimball Compl. Lyrics I. Gershwin (1993) 110/2 What a kick—How I buzz! Boy, you click as no one does! 1950 R. Starnes And when she was Bad 33 Deane, comfortably buzzed by his cocktails, monopolized what conversation there was. 1983 L. Thomas Youngest Sci. xx. 231 Me lying on my stomach buzzing with morphine, with the left arm hanging down. 1995 FourFourTwo Oct. 64/1 When I do play well, I'm passing well and when we win I'm buzzing as if I've scored a hat-trick. 1996 P. Potterfield Into Zone (2000) 114 Fischer clearly is deeply moved by great mountains. He admits he gets buzzed by their mere proximity. 2002 Time Out N.Y. 25 Apr. 93/1 He's..skidded headlong into a lucid nightmare of methamphetamine addiction, buzzing for days on end. |
▸ intr. Of a place. Usu. with with. To be filled with the noise of conversation; (hence) to be alive with gossip, discussion, rumour, etc. (without necessarily implying a murmuring or humming sound).
| 1759 O. Goldsmith Present State Polite Learning v. 55 The disputants become warm, the moderator cannot be heard, the audience take part in the debate, till at last, the whole hall buzzes with erroneous philosophy. 1848 G. Lippard Bel of Prairie Eden xiv. 75 Eyes were turned, glasses levelled; the house buzzed with a thousand whispers. 1858 Thackeray Virginians I. xxiv. 190 The little place was soon buzzing with accounts of the wealth, the good breeding, and the good looks of the Virginian. 1879 F. W. Farrar Life & Work St. Paul I. viii. xxvii. 533 The Agora buzzed with inquiring chatter. 1944 Sun (Baltimore) 22 July 4/7 All downtown Baltimore was buzzing about it. 1983 S. Rushdie Shame ii. vi. 103 The town was buzzing with the murder story. |
colloq. (orig. U.S.). To be lively, busy, or exciting. Cf. buzzing adj.
| 1906 Washington Post 23 Dec. iii. 8/4 By the middle of the afternoon the room was buzzing, packed and jammed with about the niftiest things in skirts that Broadway can produce. 1949 Maryville (Missouri) Daily Forum 7 Dec. 2/1 Tuesday noon the halls were buzzing with activity as students elected their favorites. 1989 Business Feb. 13/2 The locals..believe that Blackburn will only begin to buzz again when there is visible evidence of new investment in manufacturing. 1997 GQ Sept. 128/1 This little market town buzzes at Christmas, when it welcomes ex-pats home for the festive season. |
▸ trans. orig. U.S. To enable (a person) to enter by remotely unlocking a door, using a mechanism which makes a buzzing sound when releasing the lock. Chiefly with in or (if the person will be visiting a higher floor after entering) up.
| 1971 Chicago Daily Defender 9 Apr. 1/4 The trio gained entrance to the apartment building..by ringing tenant's [sic] bells until someone buzzed them in. 1984 J. McInerney Bright Lights, Big City 42 You buzz him up. 1992 N.Y. Times 14 June ii. 13/1 They were buzzed into the windowless room. 2004 Independent 30 Oct. (Review section) 15/1 He meets me mid-way up the stairs, after buzzing me in. |
▪ V. buzz, v.2
(bʌz)
Also buzza, buz.
trans. To finish to the last drop in the bottle.
| 1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar Tong. s.v. Buzza, To Buzza one, is to challenge him to pour out all the wine in the bottle into his glass, undertaking to drink it, should it prove more than the glass would hold. 1817 Peacock Melincourt II. 28 Buz the bottle..The Baronet has a most mathematical eye..buzzed to a drop. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxxiv, Get some more port..whilst I buzz this bottle. 1848 Blackw. Mag. LXIII. 366 Buzza that jug..and touch the bell for another. |
▪ VI. buzz, v.3 Thieves' cant.
Cf. buzzer2, buzzing vbl. n.2
| 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Buz, to buz a person is to pick his pocket. |
▪ VII. † buzz, int. Obs.
Also buz, buzze.
a. Said in the Variorum Shakspere (1803) to have been a common exclamation (of impatience or contempt) when any one was telling a well-known story; Schmidt and others say ‘a sound to command silence’. b. Attributed to conjurors = ‘hey, presto’, etc.
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 412 Pol. The Actors are come hither my Lord. Ham. Buzze, buzze. 1608 Middleton Mad World v. i. 93 She was married yesterday. Sir B. Buz! 1610 B. Jonson Alch. i. ii, Cry hum, Thrise; and then buz, as often. a 1654 Selden Table-T., Witches (Arb.) 117 If one should profess that by turning his Hat thrice, and crying Buz; he could take away a man's life. 1830 Scott Demonol. 226 Wave his hat and cry Buzz! |