bustle
noun/ˈbʌsl/
/ˈbʌsl/
- [uncountable] busy and noisy activity
- the hustle and bustle of city life
- For once the river was quiet, without its usual bustle of barges and river traffic.
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- [countable] a frame that was worn under a skirt by women in the past in order to hold the skirt out at the back
Word Originnoun sense 1 late Middle English: perhaps a variant of obsolete buskle, frequentative of busk ‘prepare’, from Old Norse. noun sense 2 late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.
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