bus
pronunciation
How to pronounce bus in British English:
UK [bʌs]
How to pronounce bus in American English:
US [bʌs]
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- Noun:
- a vehicle carrying many passengers; used for public transport
- the topology of a network whose components are connected by a busbar
- an electrical conductor that makes a common connection between several circuits
- a car that is old and unreliable
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- Verb:
- send or move around by bus
- ride in a bus
- remove used dishes from the table in restaurants
Word Origin
- bus
- bus: [19] Bus is, of course, short for omnibus. The first person on record as using it was the British writer Harriet Martineau, who spelled it buss: ‘if the station offers me a place in the buss’, Weal and woe in Garveloch 1832. Omnibus itself was borrowed from French, where it was first applied in 1828 to a voiture omnibus, literally ‘carriage for everyone’ (omnibus is the dative plural of Latin omnis ‘all’).
- bus (n.)
- 1832, abbreviation of omnibus (q.v.). The modern English noun is nothing but a Latin dative plural ending. To miss the bus, in the figurative sense of "lose an opportunity," is from 1901, Australian English (OED has a figurative miss the omnibus from 1886). Busman's holiday "leisure time spent doing what one does for a living" (1893) is probably a reference to London bus drivers riding the buses on their days off.
- bus (v.)
- 1838, "to travel by omnibus," from bus (n.). Transitive meaning "transport students to integrate schools" is from 1961, American English. Meaning "clear tables in a restaurant" is first attested 1913, probably from the four-wheeled cart used to carry dishes. Related: Bused; busing.
Example
- 1. The bus is leaving from the gate 15 .
- 2. Is this the bus to the library ?
- 3. The cheapest way to travel is by bus .
- 4. Sitting alone on that bus was awful .
- 5. I 'd been demoted to taking the bus .