Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Lexicon: business – buttercup
a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | u | v | w | x | y | z |
1234567891011121314151617181920
2122232425262728293031323334353637383940
4142434445464748495051525354555657585960
business, n. [OE; see busy, adj. and ED letters.] (webplay: affairs, care, God, leaves, life, souls, subject).
- Work; affair; occupation; (see Proverbs 22:29); [fig.] ultimate destination.
- Errand; task; duty; pursuit; purpose; stewardship; matter requiring serious attention; [fig.] charge; calling; destiny; mission; (see Luke 2:49).
- Concern; relation; interaction; (see Romans 16:2).
bust (-s), n. [Fr. < It. 'trunk of upper portion of the body'.] (webplay: head).
Statuette; sculpture of a person's head; marble figure of a human upper torso.
bustle, n. [see bustle, v.] (webplay: stir).
- Rush; gush; flow; surge; effusion; sound of water.
- Commotion; activity; movement; agitation; disturbance; burst of energy; noisy rapid motion; [fig.] expiration; last exhale; final breath.
bustle (-ed, -s), v. [ME; see busy, adj.]
- Work; fuss; hustle; keep busy.
- Stir; rustle; move around; do one's duty; [fig.] whisper; murmur; speak softly.
bustling, verbal adv. [see bustle, v.]
Actively; busily; hurriedly; noisily; [sound play] buzzing constantly.
busy (busier), adj. [OE.] (webplay: bee, come, day, employed, interruption, man, meddling, posting, see, species, troublesome, view, visible).
- Diligent; busy; industrious; occupied; hard-working; not lazy; diligently employed; [quoted from children's hymn by Isaac Watts 'Against Idleness and Mischief'.]
- Crumbling; breaking down; [fig.] chemically active; subject to natural processes of decay.
- Scratching; scribbling; marking; [fig.] quickly writing; constantly inscribing; moving by power of an author's hand.
- Active; astir; dynamic; constantly moving; [fig.] fostering; raising; nurturing; cultivating; bringing up; stimulating growth.
- Burning; glowing; shining; flickering; moving deftly in the process of combustion.
- Officious; intrusive; obtrusive; interfering; invasive; encroaching; impinging; trespassing; [fig.] fast-growing; spreading out aggressively.
- Careful; attentive; engaged; deeply engrossed; occupied without ceasing; employed with constant attention; [fig.] distracted; preoccupied; not able to be interrupted.
but, adv. [see but, conj.]
- Only; just; merely; such a low number as; such a small thing as.
- Even; so much as.
- Scarcely; hardly; barely.
but, conj. [OE < West Germanic bi, by + ûtan, out.]
- Yet; still; though; however; nevertheless; nonetheless; even so; all the same.
- And; moreover; furthermore; in addition.
- Paradoxically; in comparison; on the other hand; [fig.] ironically; unexpectedly.
- Notwithstanding; even though; when in contrast.
but, prep. [see but, conj.]
- Save; except; besides; unless; if not.
- Rather; instead; alternatively.
- Without; apart from; leaving out; with the exception of.
buttercup (-s, -'s), n. [compound of OE 'fatty substance obtained from cream by churning' + L. 'drinking vessel'; see cup, n.] (webplay: bright, flowers).
- Brilliant yellow field flower; bright golden meadow blossom; [personification] suitor; wooer; romantic partner.
- Golden-cup bloom; Crow-foot blossom; King-cup species of Ranunculus.