Emily Dickinson Lexicon

bustle (-ed, -s), v. [ME; see busy, adj.]

1. Work; fuss; hustle; keep busy.
2. 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).

1. Diligent; busy; industrious; occupied; hard-working; not lazy; diligently employed; [quoted from children's hymn by Isaac Watts 'Against Idleness and Mischief'.]
2. Crumbling; breaking down; [fig.] chemically active; subject to natural processes of decay.
3. Scratching; scribbling; marking; [fig.] quickly writing; constantly inscribing; moving by power of an author's hand.
4. Active; astir; dynamic; constantly moving; [fig.] fostering; raising; nurturing; cultivating; bringing up; stimulating growth.
5. Burning; glowing; shining; flickering; moving deftly in the process of combustion.
6. Officious; intrusive; obtrusive; interfering; invasive; encroaching; impinging; trespassing; [fig.] fast-growing; spreading out aggressively.
7. 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.]

1. Only; just; merely; such a low number as; such a small thing as.
2. Even; so much as.
3. Scarcely; hardly; barely.

but, conj. [OE < West Germanic bi, by + ûtan, out.] (webplay: abide, abroad, added, advance, besides, better, charity, compensation, continue, contrast, director, division, enough, except or excepting, exhibit, fact, faith, further, gain, good, guide, hope, ill, impossible, infinite, king, land, lowly, mind, more, nature, not included, out, outhouse, out of doors, over, parting, play, power, preceding, reparation, sense, shame, stranger, supply, thinking, three, times, true, waits, wander, waters, ways, wisdom, wished, without, worn).

1. Yet; still; though; even so; all the same; however; nevertheless; nonetheless; notwithstanding.
2. And; moreover; furthermore; in addition.
3. Paradoxically; in contrast; on the other hand; [fig.] ironically; unexpectedly.

but, prep. [see but, conj.]

1. Save; except; besides; unless; if not.
2. Rather; instead; alternatively.
3. 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).

1. Golden-cup bloom; Crow-foot blossom; King-cup species of Ranunculus.
2. Brilliant yellow field flower; bright golden meadow blossom; [personification] suitor; wooer; romantic partner.

butterfly (-'s, butterflies), n. [compound of OE 'fatty substance obtained from cream by churning' + OE 'winged insect'; see fly, n.] (webplay: caterpillars, change, chrysalids, insects, wings, yellow).

1. Imago; insect that has completed all stages of metamorphosis; [fig.] transformed creature; transfigured being; resurrected person.
2. Papilio; insect of the Lepidoptera order; slender-bodied insect with two pairs of broad beautiful colored wings; larvae that emerges from a cocoon as a delicate flying creature with knobbed antennae.
3. Golden clouds; glorious colors; bright lights moving on the horizon at dusk.
4. Larger insect; mid-sized flying entity.
5. Angelic creature; heavenly messenger; celestial courier.

button, n. [Fr. < L 'thrust, put forth'.] (webplay: feet, passed, small).

1. Round clothing fastener; [word play] disk; small ball; [fig.] orb; satellite; globe; planet; world.
2. Catch; closing knob; stud for fitting a shoe together.

button (-ed), v. [see button, n.]

Fasten; close; secure; shut; put away; tuck down into; [fig.] bury; inter; entomb; lay to rest.