Word.ws English Dictionary

bu

bu is the abbreviation of bushel.

bu is the clipping of bureau.

Meaning of bushel

Noun

bushel (plural bushels or (dialectal, obsolete) bushel)

  1. A dry measure, containing four pecks, eight gallons, or thirty-two quarts; equivalent in volume to approximately 0.0364 cubic meters (imperial bushel) or 0.0352 cubic meters (U.S. bushel).
    • The quarter, bushel, and peck are nearly universal measures of corn.1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, page 207
  2. A vessel of the capacity of a bushel, used in measuring; a bushel measure.
    • And he sayde unto them: is the candle lighted, to be put under a busshell, or under the borde: ys it not therfore lighted that it shulde be put on a candelsticke?1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Mark iiij:[21]
  3. A quantity that fills a bushel measure.
    • a heap containing ten bushels of apples
  4. (colloquial, figuratively) A large indefinite quantity.
    • The prime minister[…]has got pounds of vision. Ounces of it! Pints! A whole bushel worth of phoned-in gibberish designed to get him through a single news cycle.2022 May 31, Marina Hyde, “Pounds, ounces, pints! Johnson is offering a whole bushel worth of phoned-in gibberish”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
  5. (UK) The iron lining in the nave of a wheel.
    Synonyms:
    box

See all 7 meanings of bushel

Meaning of bureau

Noun

bureau (plural bureaus or bureaux)

  1. An administrative unit of government; office.
    • Ashley Johnson is an energy, trade and economics expert at the National Bureau of Asian Research, based in the United States.2018, VOA Learning English > China's Melting Glacier Brings Visitors, Adds to Climate Concerns
    Synonyms:
    bu, bu.
  2. An organization or office for collecting or providing information or news.
    • a news bureau; a travel bureau; a service bureau; an employment bureau; the Citizens Advice Bureau
  3. An office (room where clerical or professional duties are performed).
    • There was an eerie silence in the dorm [... in] the factory. [...] The lamp glowed in his bureau, warm and reassuring and, through the window, I could see his papers strewn across the desk. [...] I called his name again. A movement from his bureau. [...] I banged on his door until it opened a...2015, Victoria Delderfield, Secret Mother
  4. (UK) A desk, usually with a cover and compartments that are located above the level of the writing surface rather than underneath, and often used for storing papers.
  5. (Northeastern, US) A chest of drawers for clothes.

See all 6 meanings of bureau

Proper noun capitalized: BU

BU

  1. (US, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Baylor University.
  2. (US, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Boston University.
  3. (UK, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Bournemouth University.

Adjective capitalized: BU

BU (not comparable)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of broken up: referring to the scrapping of a decommissioned ship.
  2. (abbreviation, initialism, numismatic slang) Initialism of brilliant uncirculated.

Noun capitalized: Bu

Bu (uncountable)

  1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of butyl.

Phrases with bu

Questions about bu

What is bu the abbreviation of?
Bu is the abbreviation of bushel.
What part of speech is bu?
Bu can be a proper noun, an adjective or a noun.

Words near bu in the dictionary

  1. btw
  2. btwn
  3. BTX
  4. BTZ black hole
  5. BTZ black holes
  6. bu
  7. bu.
  8. Bua
  9. Buadiposo-Buntong
  10. BUAF
  11. BUAFs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bu (page history and authors); BU (page history and authors); Bu (page history and authors); bushel (page history and authors); bureau (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “bu.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bu. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.