English

A bus (motor vehicle).

Noun

bus ‎(plural buses or busses)

1. (automotive) A motor vehicle for transporting large numbers of people along roads.
2. An electrical conductor or interface serving as a common connection for two or more circuits or components.
3. (medical industry, slang) An ambulance.

Synonyms

• (vehicle): coach, loser cruiser, motorbus, omnibus
• (electrical conductor): electrical bus, busbar, digit trunk

Derived terms

Descendants

• Chinese:
  • Cantonese: 巴士 (bāshì)

Translations

Verb

bus ‎(third-person singular simple present busses or buses, present participle bussing or busing, simple past and past participle bussed or bused)

1. (transitive, automotive, transport) To transport via a motor bus.
2. (transitive, automotive, transport, chiefly US) To transport students to school, often to a more distant school for the purposes of achieving racial integration.
   • 2008, Ashley R. Holm, Racial Differences in Student Engagement and Attainment: A Study of Topeka High School, 1939--1984, ProQuest (ISBN 9780549750758), page 23

     ...to strike down Detroit's federal court order to bus students across school district lines for the purpose of desegregation and therefore nullify many busing programs throughout the country.

3. (intransitive, automotive, transport) To travel by bus.
4. (transitive, US, food service) To clear meal remains from.

   He bussed tables as the restaurant emptied out.

5. (intransitive, US, food service) To work at clearing the remains of meals from tables or counters; to work as a busboy.

   He’s been bussing for minimum wage.

Usage notes

The Canadian Oxford Dictionary only presents the spellings buses, busing, and bused, implying that these are the predominant forms in Canada.

Derived terms

• (clear meal remains): busboy

Translations

Anagrams

• sub
• UBS
• USB

Afrikaans

Noun

bus ‎(plural busse, diminutive bussie)

1. (automotive) bus

Catalan

Etymology 1

Cognate to Spanish buso ‎(“underwater snail”) and Portuguese búzio ‎(“underwater snail”), from Latin būcina ‎(“horn”).

Noun

bus m, f ‎(plural bussos)

1. diver

Etymology 2

Probably from Old Norse buza ‎(“big wide ship”).

Noun

bus m ‎(plural bussos)

1. (archaic) A large sailing ship used in the 12th and 13th centuries, broad of beam and with two or three masts.

Etymology 3

Probably from Persian بوس ‎(bus, “kiss”).

Noun

bus m ‎(plural busos)

1. (archaic) flattery

Usage notes

Only found in the phrase fer lo bus ‎(“to kiss up”).

Etymology 4

Reduction of autobús

Noun

bus m ‎(plural busos)

1. bus (vehicle)

Etymology 5

Borrowing from English bus.

Noun

bus m ‎(plural busos)

1. bus (electrical connector)

Czech

Noun

bus m

1. bus (motor vehicle for transporting large numbers of people along roads)

Synonyms

• autobus

Danish

Etymology

Shortening of omnibus, from French omnibus, from Latin omnibus ‎(“for all”), dative plural of omnis ‎(“all”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bus/, [b̥us]

Noun

bus c (singular definite bussen, plural indefinite busser)

1. bus, coach

Inflection

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ʏs
• IPA^(key): /bʏs/

Etymology 1

Shortening of omnibus, from Latin omnibus ‎(“for everything/all”); dative plural of omnis ‎(“all”).

Noun

bus m ‎(plural bussen, diminutive busje n)

1. (transport) bus, omnibus (vehicle)
2. (transport, in diminutive) minibus, minivan
3. bus (electrical conductor)

Derived terms

• busbaan
• bestelbus
• schoolbus
• stadsbus
• streekbus

Etymology 2

From Old Dutch *bussa, from Proto-Germanic *buhsijōn, *buhsuz. Compare German Büchse.

Noun

bus f ‎(plural bussen, diminutive busje n)

1. container, box, tin
2. bushing

Derived terms

• brievenbus
• drinkbus

Verb

bus

1. first-person singular present indicative of bussen
2. imperative of bussen

French

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bys/
• Homophones: busse, busses, bussent

Noun

bus m, f ‎(plural bus)

1. bus

Synonyms

• autobus

Etymology 2

Inflected forms.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /by/
• Homophones: bu, bue, bues, but, bût

Verb

bus

1. first-person singular past historic of boire
2. second-person singular past historic of boire

Verb

bus m pl

1. masculine plural of the past participle of boire

Irish

Etymology

Borrowing from English bus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [bˠʊsˠ]

Noun

bus m ‎(genitive singular bus, nominative plural busanna)

1. bus

Declension

Derived terms

• busáras ‎(“bus station”)
• lána bus, buslána ‎(“bus lane”)

Mutation

Lithuanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [bʊs]

Verb

bùs

1. third-person singular future tense of būti.
2. third-person plural future tense of būti.
3. third-person singular future tense of busti.
4. third-person plural future tense of busti.

Lojban

Rafsi

bus

1. rafsi of bu.

Lombard

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /byːs/

Noun

bus m

1. hole

Middle Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *bussus, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- ‎(“to swell, bulge”).

Noun

bus ‎(gender unknown)

1. (rare, poetic) lip

References

• “4 bus” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.
• Matasović, Ranko (2009), “*bussu-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, ISBN 978-90-04-17336-1, page 84

Norman

Verb

bus

1. first-person singular preterite of baithe

Polish

Etymology

Contraction of autobus, borrowed from English bus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bus/

Noun

bus m anim ‎(diminutive busik)

1. (colloquial) bus

Declension

Romagnol

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bus/

Noun

bus m

1. hole
   • September 2012, Daniela Cortesi, Bônanòta in la Ludla, il Papiro, page 15:

     un sorg e’ cor in priscia int e’ su bus.‎

     a mouse runs hastily towards its hole.

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology 1

Borrowing from English bus.

Noun

bus m ‎(genitive singular bus, plural busaichean)

1. bus

Etymology 2

From Old Irish bus.

Noun

bus m ‎(genitive singular buis, plural buis or busan)

1. pout (facial expression)

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowing from English bus.

Noun

bus m ‎(plural buses)

1. (colloquial) bus

Related terms

• ómnibus, trolebús, autobús

Swedish

Etymology

From the verb busa ‎(“to do mischief”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [bʉ͍ːs]
• Rhymes: -ʉːs

Noun

bus n ‎(uncountable)

1. very innocent mischief, prank

   Trick or Treat is often translated with Bus eller godis

2. general noise or trouble made by gangs of youths

Declension

Derived terms

• NetBus

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowing from English bus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bus/

Noun

bus

1. bus (vehicle)

Related terms

• sasakyan
• kotse
• transit

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English bush.

Noun

bus

1. bush (remote rural areas)
   • 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Genesis 1:25 (translation here):

     God i kamapim ol kain kain animal bilong ples na ol bikpela na liklik animal bilong bus. God i lukim olgeta dispela samting i gutpela, na em i amamas.

Derived terms

• bus kanaka