[‘ /intr./ To go searching or seeking for something; to go from place to place. Chiefly with adverb or prepositional phrase. Now rare (colloq. in later use).']
Pronunciation: Brit. /bʌsk/, U.S. /bəsk/
Forms: 16 *buske*, 16– *busk*.
Etymology:Probably < French /busquer/ to look for, seek (1550 in Middle French), to shift, to filch, to prowl, to catch (1611 in Cotgrave) or its etymon Spanish /buscar/ to seek out, to procure (c/1200), of uncertain origin. Compare Portuguese /buscar (1047). Compare also Occitan /bouscà/ (17th cent.), Catalan /buscar/ (1666), Italian /buscare/ to seek out, to procure (15th cent.), all < Spanish.
With sense 1 perhaps compare busk v.3 and discussion at that entry. Compare also bush v.1 8.
*1.* /intr./ To go searching or seeking for something; to go from place to place. Chiefly with adverb or prepositional phrase. Now rare (colloq. in later use).
1635 J. Reynolds /Triumphs Gods Revenge/ (new ed.) vi. xxx. 460 Those Swimmers had..curiously busked and dived in most places thereof to find out this cloath.
1677 W. Wycherley /Plain-dealer/ iii. i. 38 Go, busk about, and run thy self into the next great Man’s Lobby.
1687 /Cynthia/ 131 The Dog..parted from it, going his way to his old Trade of busking to and fro in the Garden.
1790 M. Willett /Diary/ 5-6 May in W. M. Willett /Narr. Mil. Actions Col. Marinus Willett/ (1831) ix. 103 The people in the next town are busking for mulberries.
1826 H. Roscoe /North’s Lives/ (new ed.) III. 54 Running up and down and through the city..perpetually busking after one thing or other.
1898 C. Mortimer /Capt. Antle/ iv. 31 My advice to you is to go to Bristol and busk round like a little man, and someone will give ‘ee employ.
1909 W. N. Famous /Col. Crook Stories/ 31 This plug..took to busking about the town and on the quiet..kept telling all the folk that I was not an oculist.
†*2.* /Naut./
*a.* /intr./ Of a ship: to cruise; to sail to and fro. Also: spec. to strive against contrary winds or currents at sea; to beat to windward; to tack. Freq. with adverb, as about, to, etc. Obs.
N.E.D. (1888) includes the sense ‘to cruise as a pirate’, but this is attested only in later glossarial evidence (see quot. 1867 at busking n.2 1).
1635 W. Methwold et al. /Let./ 19 Jan. in W. Foster /Eng. Factories in India. 1634-6/ (1911) 97 Takeing the opertunity of two yeares securety to devide our shipping and buske out for imployment.
1665 /Oxf. Gaz./ No. 9/2, A Ship from Longsound, who hath been buskin too and again this Fortnight.
1698 J. Fryer /New Acct. E.-India & Persia/ i. i. 4 The succeeding Morning..we beheld our Frigots that had left us, busking after us with all the winged speed they could.
1713 C. Johnson /Successful Pyrate/ i. 1 The Ship was found busking on the Seas, without a Mast or Rudder.
1758 /Whitehall Evening Post/ 15 July, We were busking in the Bay of Bisca ten Days.
1839 R. M. Bird /Adventures Robin Day/ I. ii. 23 Three or four others were busking about in a batteau.
1860 /Atlantic Monthly/ Aug. 149/2 Talbot’s shallop..was busking and turning before Oldfield’s landing for several hours.
*b.* /trans./to busk it out: to weather a storm by tacking about. Obs./ /rare.
1744 R. North & M. North /Life Sir D. North & Rev. J. North/ 15 Sometimes a-try, and sometimes a-hull, we busked it out.
*c.* /trans./ To cruise or sail about on (the sea). Obs./ /rare.
1747 J. Lind /Lett. Navy/ (1757) i. 29 Three deck’d ships are too large and unweildy to busk the seas, as they call it.
*3.*
*a.* /intr./ orig. slang. To perform music or some other entertainment in a public place (now esp. in the street) for monetary donations. Also trans.: to make (one’s way) performing in this manner. Cf. earlier busking n.2 2.
[1776 J. Hawkins /Gen. Hist. Music/ V. i. vii. 66 The musicians of his time..call it going a-busking.]
1825 P. Egan /Life of Actor/ v. 212, I agreed with my clown, Tom Jefferies, who could sing a good low comedy song, Mr. Brown, a musician, and myself, to busk our way up to London.
1878 /Birmingham Daily Post/ 19 June 7/4 The latter stated that prisoner had discarded his trade, and had been ‘busking’ about the country. That meant reciting Shakespeare’s tragedies to ‘select audiences’ in public houses. (laughter.)
1907 H. Wyndham /Flare of Footlights/ vii. 65 ‘He’s busking at Margate now.’ ‘Busking?’ ‘Yes—playing on the sands. He spouts Hamlet and Othello, and sends a hat round for coppers.’
1934 P. Allingham /Cheapjack/ 318 /Busk/, to perform in the street.
1942 /Billboard/ 6 June 44/1 Some performers, when stranded, busked to raise getaway money.
1993 M. Breasted /Why should you doubt me Now?/ xlii. 171 Young man with a guitar busking for small change.
2005 /Trav. Afr./ Autumn 27/4 In The Gambia, bands of masked dancers take to the streets to busk for tips.
*b.* /trans./ and intr./ /slang. (orig. Jazz) and colloq. To improvise (esp. music); to speak or write without preparation. Also in to busk it.
1934 S. R. Nelson /All about Jazz/ ii. 51 The drummer can still busk his part, and except for roughly glancing at the score, that is what the best drummers do today.
1968 /Gramophone/ Oct. 578/2 One does not need to be familiar with the correct chord sequence..to realise that Powell is busking his way through.
1991 R. Ferguson /Henry Miller/ ix. 168 His French also improved, and he was able to busk his way through conversations.
1998 /Independent/ 16 June ii. 8/3, I did most of the writing and—busking it—even reviewed things I hadn’t seen.
2003 /Spin/ Oct. 113/2 They coolly busk about sex, love, poverty, and paranoia in a raw, Roots-y style.