abuzz
adjUS, UK /əˈbʌz/ · Northern-England /əˈbʊz/
Etymology From a- (prefix indicating a condition or manner) + buzz (“feeling or rush of energy or excitement; major topic of conversation; widespread rumor; information spread behind the scenes”) or buzz (“to show a high level of activity and haste; to communicate in an undertone; to spread, as a report, by whispers or secretly; to talk to incessantly or confidentially in a low humming voice”).
1
Postpositional Characterized by a high level of activity or gossip; in a buzz (“feeling or rush of energy or excitement”), buzzing.
- The court was all astir and a-buzz, when the black sheep—whom many fell away from in dread—pressed him into an obscure corner among the crowd.1859, Charles Dickens, “The Game Made”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book III (The Track of a Storm), page 212:
- There's too many women in the house for me: I hate the sound of women's voices; they're always either a-buzz or a-squeak, always either a-buzz or a-squeak.1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “The Night-school and the Schoolmaster”, in Adam Bede […], volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book second, page 124:
4 more examples
- The long silent halls of sumptuous hotels are all abuzz with excited arrivals.1879, T. DeWitt Talmage [i.e., Thomas De Witt Talmage], “The Sins of Summer Watering Places”, in The Masque Torn Off, Chicago, Ill.: J. Fairbanks & Co. [et al.], →OCLC, page 171:
- Now what a-devil has set this hornet's nest of theirs abuzz so suddenly?1902, Francis Lynde, “How a King’s Trooper Became a Wastrel”, in The Master of Appleby: […], New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, →OCLC, page 289:
- The town was abuzz with excitement for an hour, when the news became stale.1913 July, Peter B[ernhard] Kyne, “The Long Chance: The Tale of a Hat Ranch”, in Charles K[ellogg] Field, editor, Sunset: The Pacific Monthly, volume 31, number 1, San Francisco, Calif.: Southern Pacific Company, →OCLC, page 131, column 2:
- It was coming up on the cusp of July and August, and he remembered boyhood summers on the mountain's slopes abuzz with blackflies and syrupy heat.2005 June, Cory Doctorow, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, New York, N.Y.: Tor Books, →ISBN; 1st trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Tom Doherty Associates, 2006, →ISBN: