Definition of bustle

< bustier

bustle >

bus·tle¹    (bsl) KEY 

intr. & tr.v.
bus·tled, bus·tling, bus·tles

To move or cause to move energetically and busily.

NOUN:

Excited and often noisy activity; a stir.

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ETYMOLOGY:
Possibly variant of obsolete buskle, frequentative of busk, to prepare oneself, from Old Norse bask, reflexive of ba, to prepare; see bheu- in Indo-European roots