Noun

(en noun)

Someone who or something that bursts, breaks, or destroys a specified thing.

* 1614 , S. Jerome, Moses his Sight of Canaan , 147:

Now death, I pray thee what is it, but a buster of bonds; a destruction of toyle?

* 2005 , J. Madhavan, Sita & Forest Bandits , 122:

Rothlin was described... by the papers as the buster of the bandit ring.

# .

#* 1940 September 2, Life , 29/1:

German ‘balloon busters ’ attack the Dover barrage.

#* 1958 February 10, Life , 70:

Our main purpose in further experimentation with nuclear bombs is not... to make city-busters more horrible.

Someone who or something that 'breaks', tames, or overpowers a specified person or thing.

# A bronco-buster.

#* 1891 July, Harper's Magazine , 208/2

The buster must be careful to keep well away from sheds and timber.

# (Forming compounds denoting an agent or agency tasked with reducing or eliminating the first element).

#* 1920 , F. A. McKenzie, ‘Pussyfoot’ Johnson , v. 83:

Men nicknamed him the ‘Booze Buster ’, and cartoonists loved to picture him, revolver in hand,... fighting the demon rum.

#* 1974''' July 4, ''New Scientist , 65/2:

The professional fraud-busters [of the art world].

#* 1984 November 18, N.Y. Times , iv. 24/2:

New York City traffic agents have become Gridlock Busters' and cigarette foes are ' smokebusters .

Someone]] or something remarkable, especially for being loud, large, [[etc..

* 1833 April, Parthenon , 293:

‘I had to clean this old roarer,’ continued the ‘editor’... as he wiped the barrel of his pistol. ‘She's a buster , I tell you.’

* 2004 November 20, South Wales Echo , 9:

What a buster of a lunch it turned out to be.

# : guy, dude, fella, mack, buddy, loser. (Originally as 'old buster' .)

#* 1838 March 24, New Yorker , 4/1:

That's generous, old buster .

#* 1919 , , ''(My Man Jeeves), 79:

An extremely wealthy old buster .

#* 2001 , S. MacKay, Fall Guy , ix. 113:

‘Careful, buster ,’ she said. ‘I've got a knife in my hand.’

A loaf of bread.

* 1835 September 16, Morning Post , 4/2:

Three penny busters , and a whole kit-full of winegar and mustard.

* 1904 June 8, Journal of the Department of Labour (New Zealand), 536:

An 8 loaf of brown bread... goes by the name of ‘buster ’, I suppose on account of the way they blow you out.

A drinking spree, a binge.

* 1848 , John Russell Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms :

They were on a buster , and were taken up by the police.

* 1922 , (James Joyce), , 405:

All off for a buster , armstrong, hollering down the street.

a southerly buster.

* 1848 , John Russell Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms

‘This is a buster ,’ i.e. a powerful or heavy wind.

* 1886 , Frank Cowan, Australia , 14:

The Buster and Brickfielder: austral red-dust blizzard and red-hot Simoom.

* 1991 , J. Moore, By Way of Wind , 121:

When the barometer drops rapidly... watch out for a strong sou'wester. A buster can be on you in a flash.

a staged fall, a pratfall.

* 1874 April, Baily's Monthly Magazine , 114:

Dainty... came down ‘a buster ’ at the last hurdle, and Scots Grey cantered in by himself.

A molting crab.

*1855 October 18, Henry A. Wise, letter in J.P. Hambleton's Biographical Sketch of Henry A. Wise (1856), 448:

In that state he is called a ‘Buster ’, bursting his shell.

* 2002 January 6, N.Y. Times , v. 4/6:

Restaurant August... serves contemporary French cuisine prepared with Louisiana ingredients like buster crabs, shrimp and oysters.

Noun

(en noun)

Anything that, or anyone who blasts.

A device to detonate an explosive, often consisting of a box with a handle to be pressed down.

(science fiction) An unspecified powerful hand weapon, usually one that fires energy.

* {{quote-magazine

, year = 1938 , date = April , first = Henry , last = Kuttner , authorlink = Henry Kuttner , magazine = , title = Hollywood on the Moon , volume = 11 , issue = 2 , page = 26 , passage = Blast out the lakes and canals—whittle down the peaks and mounds with atomic blasters —file them into the shape of gigantic buildings. }}

* {{quote-magazine

, year = 1939 , date = June , first = Jack , last = Williamson , authorlink = Jack Williamson , magazine = , title = One Against the Legion , volume = 23 , issue = 4 , page = 138 , passage = One slender hand clung near a singular jewel, like a great white snow crystal, that hung from her throat. And the other, with a practiced and familiar grip, held a barytron blaster' of the newest legion design. An unwilling little glisten had come into the violet eyes. Her blond head flung angrily. She caught her breath, and lifted the barytron ' blaster . Its bright tube pointed straight between his shoulders. He would never even know. }}