bustle

Related to bustle: hustle and bustle

bustle about

1. To work on a task vigorously. Because her relatives are coming to visit, Annabelle is bustling about, cleaning the whole house and setting up all the guest rooms.
2. To quickly move around some space or area while trying to complete a task. In this usage, the location is stated after "about." Because her relatives are coming to visit, Annabelle is bustling about the living room, putting all of the kids' toys away.
See also: bustle

bustle around

To move quickly while trying to complete a task. Because her relatives are coming to visit, Annabelle is bustling around, cleaning the whole house and setting up all the guest rooms.
See also: around, bustle

bustle off

1. To leave a place hastily. A: "I didn't see Alice this morning. B: "Oh, she bustled off because she was running late."
2. To send someone somewhere. In this usage, a noun or pronoun can be used between "bustle" and "off." Before I left for the airport, I bustled my daughter off to school.
See also: bustle, off

hustle (one's) bustle

To increase one's pace or sense of urgency; to hurry up; to get moving quickly. We'd better hustle our bustle if we want to get to the movie theater on time!
See also: bustle, hustle

hustle and bustle

Busy and frenetic activity or excitement. I love living among the hustle and bustle of the city. I avoid the hustle and bustle of malls and shopping centers whenever I can.
See also: and, bustle, hustle
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

bustle about doing something

to go about doing something busily and energetically. Greg bustled about all day, doing the chores. Lily bustled about, getting dinner ready.
See also: bustle

bustle about some place

to move about some place very busily, or as if busy. They were all bustling about the kitchen, getting the feast ready. Veronica was bustling about outside, cleaning up the yard.
See also: bustle, place

bustle around

to move about very busily. The people were bustling around, trying to get things ready for the picnic. I wish you would stop bustling around.
See also: around, bustle

bustle off

to leave in haste. Well, I have to bustle off or I'll miss my flight. I hate to bustle off so soon.
See also: bustle, off

bustle someone off

to help someone leave; to send someone out or away. The cops bustled the crook off. They bustled off the three men who were fighting.
See also: bustle, off

hustle and bustle

Fig. confusion and business. I can't stand the hustle and bustle of big cities. There is a lot of hustle and bustle in this office at the end of the fiscal year.
See also: and, bustle, hustle
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

ˌhustle and ˈbustle

busy and excited activity: I can’t concentrate on my work with all this hustle and bustle going on around me. I’ve always loved the hustle and bustle of big cities.
See also: and, bustle, hustle
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • bustle about
  • bustle about doing
  • bustle about some place
  • bustle around
  • burst a blood vessel
  • at pains, be at
  • be at pains
  • be at pains to do something
  • at pains
  • at pains to
References in periodicals archive
* After the glue on the extensions has dried, lay the feathers on the floor in the order that they are going to be placed on each side of the bustle (smallest feather to largest feather).
Contemporary Northern traditional bustle construction
Eagle wing bustle. Photographed at 2005 Gathering of Nations Powwow.
Contemporary Northern Traditional bustles
He holds in his right hand a whip stick decorated with feathers that match the bustles and the beaded handle compliment the other beaded items.
Men's fancy dance: an evolution in beauty
It is offered as a fun way to make people smile, and to escape from the daily hustle and bustle of life.
Posh Spice bites back
The terrace at Palermo is light, airy and a real getaway from the hustle and bustle of main Dubai.
Brunching with the ponies
In his new role, Bustle will oversee commercial, middle market, small-business banking and commercial real estate services to customers in BankUnited's Florida footprint.
BankUnited names SEVP of commercial banking
1857 Alexander Douglas patented the bustle. Queen Victoria was given a musical bustle playing God Save the Queen for her Golden Jubilee
THIS DAY IN HISTORY; April 21
Qualities such as stillness, slowness and asceticism speak of a different sort of world and are a quiet retort to the blare, bustle and sensory overload of modern Japan.
Tea bunker: the traditional Japanese tea house gets a new and surprising twist
It would be perfect for high-end tenants looking for more cachet, more of a user-friendly location, a bit removed from the bustle of Broadway."
Sinvin shops space in SoHo charmer
As previously seen on public television, Visions Of France is an impressive collection of two DVD programs, "The Riviera" and "Provence", which reveal at length the wonder, beauty, and bustle of two of France's most popular travel destinations.
Visions of France
How do you reach out to queer youths in the bustle of the Big Apple?
Help in your pocket
Quiet, orderly streets, the boring bustle of bureaucrats, pampered politicians, Paul Anka?
Gary's Touch
The Songwriter Goes To War: The Story of Irving Berlin's World War II All-Army Production of This Is The Army is the long-lost true story of frontline show business--from the hustle and bustle of its large-scale production including the transportation of of a full-scale Broadway musical revue to Great Britain during the blitz, to its premier at theaters, subsequent reception, and role in keeping up morale.
The Songwriter Goes to War
The final addition was the bustle that made fashionable young fillies look like pantomime horses and gave a new meaning to the question: "Does my bum look big in this?"
The Diary
It is an entire economic future and a tide of a generation that ebbs out of small communities where they have grown up, lured to the bright lights and bustle of the big cities.
Young, but not restless: northerners stay the course