Buster vs Broke - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between buster and broke

is that buster is (a specific instance of) buster : guy, dude, fella, mack, buddy, loser while broke is (papermaking) paper or board that is discarded and repulped during the manufacturing process.

As a proper noun buster

is or buster can be (male).

As an adjective broke is

(informal) lacking money; bankrupt.

As a verb broke is

(break) or broke can be to broker; to transact business for another.

buster

English

(Buster)

Alternative forms

* Buster * -buster

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.

Derived terms

* ballbuster, ball-buster * balloon-buster * belly-buster, belly buster * blockbuster, block-buster * booze-buster * brainbuster * broncobuster, bronco-buster, bronco buster * bunker buster * chartbuster * come a buster * crime buster, crime-buster, crimebuster * dam-buster * dustbuster, dust buster * fort-buster * gangbuster * gangbusters * ghostbuster * have a buster * knuckle-buster * old buster * price buster * rate-buster * rust-buster * scud-buster * ship-buster * skull-buster * tankbuster * unionbuster

Anagrams

References

* ----

broke

English

Adjective

(en adjective)

(informal) Lacking money; bankrupt

(informal) Broken.

Synonyms

* boracic (UK rhyming slang), skint (UK slang), stony-broke (qualifier, UK slang') * See also

Noun

(en noun)

(papermaking) Paper or board that is discarded and repulped during the manufacturing process.

*1880 , James Dunbar, The Practical Papermaker: A Complete Guide to the Manufacture of Paper , page 12:

*:If the broke accumulates, a larger proportion can be used in making coloured papers, otherwise the above quantity is sufiicient.

*1914 , The World's Paper Trade Review, Volume 62 , page 204:

*:Presumably, most of the brokes and waste were used up in this manner, and during the manufacture of the coarse stuff little or no attention was paid to either cleanliness or colour.

*2014 September 25, Judge Diane Wood, NCR Corp. v. George A. Whiting Paper Co. :

*:These mills purchase broke from other paper mills through middlemen and use it to make paper.

Verb

(head)

(break)

(archaic, or, poetic)

* 1999 October 3, J. Stewart Burns, "Mars University", Futurama , season 2, episode 2, Fox Broadcasting Company

Guenther: I guess the hat must have broke my fall.

# (nautical) Demoted, deprived of a commission.

He was broke and rendered unfit to serve His Majesty at sea.

Verb

(brok)

To broker; to transact business for another.

(Brome)

(obsolete) To act as procurer in love matters; to pimp.

* Fanshawe

We do want a certain necessary woman to broke between them, Cupid said.

* Shakespeare

And brokes with all that can in such a suit / Corrupt the tender honour of a maid.

Statistics

* English irregular simple past forms