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buster

The English word “buster” has 12 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. Someone who or something that bursts, breaks, or destroys a specified thing.
  2. Forming compounds denoting a team, weapon, or device specialized in the destruction of the first element.
  3. A broncobuster.
  4. Forming compounds denoting an agent or agency tasked with reducing or eliminating the first element.
  5. Someone or something remarkable, especially for being loud, large, etc.
  6. A form of address, particularly of men: guy, dude, fella, mack, buddy, loser. (Originally as 'old buster'.)
  7. A loaf of bread.
  8. A drinking spree, a binge.
  9. A gale, a strong wind; (especially Australia) a southerly buster.
  10. A heavy fall; (also performing arts) a staged fall, a pratfall.
  11. A molting crab.
  12. A cheat's die whose sides bear only certain combinations of spots, so that undesirable values can never be rolled.

Etymology

Originally a dialectal variant of burster; later influenced by bust + -er. The combining form of the term has appeared from the early 20th century but been especially prolific during three periods: in the 1930s, owing to the success of the radio series Gang Busters; in the 1940s, owing to its appearance as military slang; and in the 1980s, owing to the success of the movie Ghostbusters.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.