Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A long motor vehicle for carrying passengers, usually along a fixed route.
  • noun Informal A large or ungainly automobile.
  • noun A four-wheeled cart for carrying dishes in a restaurant.
  • noun Electricity A bus bar.
  • noun Computers A parallel circuit that connects the major components of a computer, allowing the transfer of electric impulses from one connected component to any other.
  • intransitive verb To transport in a bus.
  • intransitive verb To transport (schoolchildren) by bus to schools outside their neighborhoods, especially as a means of achieving racial integration.
  • intransitive verb To carry or clear (dishes) in a restaurant.
  • intransitive verb To clear dishes from (a table).
  • intransitive verb To travel in a bus.
  • intransitive verb To work as a busboy.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An omnibus, or public street-carriage.
  • noun Short for bus-bar. Same as bus-bar.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun colloq. An omnibus.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun automotive A motor vehicle for transporting large numbers of people along roads.
  • noun An electrical conductor or interface serving as a common connection for two or more circuits or components.
  • noun medical industry, slang An ambulance.
  • verb transitive, automotive, transport To transport via a motor bus.
  • verb transitive, automotive, transport To transport students to school, often to a more distant school for the purposes of achieving racial integration.
  • verb intransitive, automotive, transport To travel by bus.
  • verb transitive, US, food service To clear meal remains from.
  • verb intransitive, US, food service To work at clearing the remains of meals from tables or counters; to work as a busboy.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb remove used dishes from the table in restaurants
  • verb ride in a bus
  • noun the topology of a network whose components are connected by a busbar
  • verb send or move around by bus
  • noun a car that is old and unreliable
  • noun an electrical conductor that makes a common connection between several circuits
  • noun a vehicle carrying many passengers; used for public transport

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Short for omnibus. V., intr., sense 2, back-formation from busboy.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Shortening of omnibus, from Latin omnibus ("for everything/all"); dative plural of omnis ("all").

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Examples

  • (I would look it up, but my bus is about to arrive and I don't want lj to lose this post!)

    Post-Wiscon.. except not julieandrews 2009

  • If you simply want to tour around and see the country, the bus is the way to go.

    British students, buying versus renting a car in Mexico 2009

  • I look up at the windows, down at the ground, try to see what hit me, but my bus is here and I get on.

    Tango on the Edgware Road « Squares of Wheat 2009

  • A bus is a private entity, therefore, the owner of the bus should be the one to ban or otherwise and if he knows this person is disturbing his customers and might lose money, they would put a stop to it.

    Road and Bus Evangelism: My take 2009

  • Yes | No | Report from elkslayer wrote 13 weeks 2 days ago the only thing more disgusting than the way Jim Zumbo was thrown under the bus is the immediate praise that everyone else in the hunting industry gave to AR rifles.

    Is Your Next Deer Rifle An AR? 2009

  • I look up at the windows, down at the ground, try to see what hit me, but my bus is here and I get on.

    March « 2009 « Squares of Wheat 2009

  • Although writing with pen & notebook on a bus is a tricky endeavor.

    How To Find Time To Write While Traveling | Write to Done 2009

  • If you simply want to tour around and see the country, the bus is the way to go.

    British students, buying versus renting a car in Mexico 2009

  • And the first thing visitors see when they get off the bus is a statue of the company's mascot: the high-fin loach.

    Swimming Upstream Donald Frazier 2010

  • Yes | No | Report from elkslayer wrote 13 weeks 2 days ago the only thing more disgusting than the way Jim Zumbo was thrown under the bus is the immediate praise that everyone else in the hunting industry gave to AR rifles.

    Is Your Next Deer Rifle An AR? 2009

  • It brings to mind the morbid “bus factor” — what happens to a project if a sole maintainer gets hit by a bus?

    Open Source Needs Maintainers. But How Can They Get Paid? Heather Joslyn 2023

  • I have a frequent rider card for the struggle bus. I think that not being where we would thought we would be is actually the norm, not the exception.

    Anyone else on the struggle bus? Adventurous_Okra_344 2025

  • Everyone rides the struggle bus from time to time. It’s part of life. The first step is always awareness: “Hey, I’m really struggling with this. What’s up with that?” Then, you must lay out a plan for dealing with the struggle.

    5 Things to Do When You’re Riding the Struggle Bus Jennifer Miller 2021

  • "When you're having a hard time, you're on the 'struggle bus,'" says Curzan. "And apparently if you're having a really hard time, you're driving the 'struggle bus.'"

    If you 'fizzle,' at least be smooth about it Michigan Public | By 2013

  • "When you're having a hard time, you're on the 'struggle bus,'" says Curzan. "And apparently if you're having a really hard time, you're driving the 'struggle bus.'"

    If you 'fizzle,' at least be smooth about it Michigan Public | By 2013

  • Everyone rides the struggle bus from time to time. It’s part of life. The first step is always awareness: “Hey, I’m really struggling with this. What’s up with that?” Then, you must lay out a plan for dealing with the struggle.

    5 Things to Do When You’re Riding the Struggle Bus Jennifer Miller 2021

  • I have a frequent rider card for the struggle bus. I think that not being where we would thought we would be is actually the norm, not the exception.

    Anyone else on the struggle bus? Adventurous_Okra_344 2025

Comments

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  • Just before sunrise, after everyone discovered themselves squarely on the bus, and the doors firmly shut, the man behind the wheel turned to them and said, "This can prove to be a long journey, as long, in fact, as you can imagine it to be, and once we get started there are those among you who will begin to move up and down the aisle offering to provide travel instructions and motion remedies. I will be too involved driving this vehicle to ever address you so directly again, so just let me now offer you this tip for the journey: Either stay alert, or take a laxative."

    --Jan Cox

    November 15, 2007

  • Zincali More, yet, but.

    July 22, 2008