Etymology From Middle English bustlen, bustelen, bostlen, perhaps an alteration of *busklen (> Modern English buskle), a frequentative of Middle English busken (“to prepare; make ready”), from Old Norse búask (“to prepare oneself”); or alternatively from a frequentative form of Middle English busten, bisten (“to buffet; pummel; dash; beat”) + -le. Compare also Icelandic bustla (“to splash; bustle”). The etymology of noun sense 3 is uncertain, perhaps related to busk (“strip in a corset”) or German Buschel.
1
An excited activity; a stir.
the whirl and bustle of a large metropolis
the hum and bustle
4 more examples
[…]we are, perhaps, all the while flattering our natural Indolence, which, hating the Buſtle of the World and Drudgery of Buſineſs, ſeeks a Pretext of Reaſon, to give itſelf a full and uncontroul'd Indulgence.1748, [David Hume], “Essay V. Sceptical Solution of These Doubts.”, in Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, part I, page 70:
In the midſt of all this buſtle, I was ſtruck with the appearance of a large bevy of beauties and women of the firſt fashion, who with all the perfect confidence of good breeding, inſhrined themſelves in the ſeveral temples dedicated to the Cyprian Venus[.]1755, Adam Fitz-Adam, The World, number CXXI, London, page 789:
My father was in the meantime overjoyed and in the bustle of preparation only recognized in the melancholy of his niece the diffidence of a bride.1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC:
As the sun ascends to his meridian, the hum and bustle gradually decline; at the height of noon there is a pause.1832, [Washington Irving], The Alhambra: A Series of Tales and Sketches of the Moors and Spaniards. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Philadelphia, Pa.: [Henry Charles] Carey & [Isaac] Lea, →OCLC:
2
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences A cover to protect and hide the back panel of a computer or other office machine.
3
Historical A frame worn underneath a woman's skirt, typically only protruding from the rear as opposed to the earlier more circular hoops.
A grotesque-looking lady wearing a bustle (Anna mentally undressed the woman, and was appalled at her hideousness), and a little girl laughing affectedly ran down the platform.1901 [1878], chapter 31, in Constance Garnett, transl., Anna Karenina, translation of Анна Каренина (Anna Karenina) by Leo Tolstoy, part 7:
All the portraits that hang on the walls of the living room are, I realize, of my mother's family: miniatures of her great-aunts in Victorian bustles and elaborate feathered hats; a gilt-framed oil of her great-great-great-uncle as a boy in pastoral England, wearing a gold riding coat over white jodhpurs and sitting astride a white steed, a King Charles spaniel yapping at them from the foreground of the canvas.2006, Peter Godwin, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa:
Why the old clerical's turned coper—a new way of raising the wind——letting his friends down easy—gave you a good dinner, I suppose, Sir John, and took this method of drawing the bustle for it: an old trick of the reverend's.1825, Charles Molloy Westmacott, The English Spy, page 236:
Etymology From Middle English bustlen, bustelen, bostlen, perhaps an alteration of *busklen (> Modern English buskle), a frequentative of Middle English busken (“to prepare; make ready”), from Old Norse búask (“to prepare oneself”); or alternatively from a frequentative form of Middle English busten, bisten (“to buffet; pummel; dash; beat”) + -le. Compare also Icelandic bustla (“to splash; bustle”). The etymology of noun sense 3 is uncertain, perhaps related to busk (“strip in a corset”) or German Buschel.
1
To move busily and energetically with fussiness (often followed by about).
The commuters bustled about inside the train station.
I was once so mad to bussell abroad, and seek about for preferment […].1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 3, member 6:
2
To teem or abound (usually followed by with); to exhibit an energetic and active abundance (of a thing).
The train station was bustling with commuters.
3
To push around, to importune.
Don’t bustle her or fuss or snatch: / A suitor looking at his watch / Is not a posture that persuades / Willing, much less reluctant maids.1981, A. D. Hope, “His Coy Mistress to Mr. Marvell”, in A Book of Answers: