bust (busts plural & 3rd person present) (busting present participle) (busted past tense & past participle )
The form bust is used as the present tense of the verb, and can also be used as the past tense and past participle.
1 verb If you bust something, you break it or damage it so badly that it cannot be used.
INFORMAL They will have to bust the door to get him out. V n
2 verb If someone is busted, the police arrest them.
INFORMAL usu passive
They were busted for possession of cannabis. be V-ed
3 verb If police bust a place, they go to it in order to arrest people who are doing something illegal.
INFORMAL ...police success in busting UK-based drug factories. V n
Bust is also a noun., n-count
Six tons of cocaine were seized last week in Panama's biggest drug bust.
4 adj A company or fund that is bust has no money left and has been forced to close down.
INFORMAL, BUSINESS It is taxpayers who will pay most of the bill for bailing out bust banks.
5 If a company goes bust, it loses so much money that it is forced to close down.
INFORMAL, BUSINESS
go bust phrase V inflects
...a Swiss company which went bust last May.
6 n-count A bust is a statue of the head and shoulders of a person.
oft N of n
...a bronze bust of the Queen.
7 n-count You can use bust to refer to a woman's breasts, especially when you are describing their size. Good posture also helps your bust look bigger.
boom-bust cycle (boom-bust cycles plural )A boom-bust cycle is a series of events in which a rapid increase in business activity in the economy is followed by a rapid decrease in business activity, and this process is repeated again and again. (BUSINESS) n-count
We must avoid the damaging boom-bust cycles which characterised the 1980s.
bust-up (bust-ups plural )
1 n-count A bust-up is a serious quarrel, often resulting in the end of a relationship.
INFORMAL
(=row)
She had had this bust-up with her family.
2 n-count A bust-up is a fight.
(BRIT)
INFORMAL ...a bust-up which she says left her seriously hurt.
