Word.ws English Dictionary

busted up

busted up is the simple past and past participle of bust up.

Meaning of bust up

Verb

bust up (third-person singular simple present busts up, present participle busting up, simple past and past participle busted up or (colloquial) bust up)

  1. (US, informal, transitive) To physically damage or ruin; to be ruined; to go bankrupt; to end (something).
    • If I was school . . . I’d capitulate tomorrow. I’d bonfire the books, drain the inkwells and bust up the blackboard — if only he would stop hating. It’s wearing me out!1957 November 14, Sputnik [pseudonym], “My Son Hates School”, in Daily Record, number 19,357, Glasgow: Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2, columns 2–3
  2. (US, informal, intransitive) To break up (end a relationship).
    • I knew, because both Alison and Penny had taught me, that busting up with someone could be miserable, but I didn't know that getting off with someone could be miserable too.1995, Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 19
  3. (slang, African-American Vernacular) To shoot (someone).
  4. (slang) To express sudden and intense emotions; to burst into loud laughter.
  5. (Australia, slang) To spend money wildly, especially on alcoholic drinks.

Questions about busted up

What is busted up the simple past and past participle of?
Busted up is the simple past and past participle of bust up.

Words near busted up in the dictionary

  1. busted pilot
  2. busted pilots
  3. busted someone's agates
  4. busted someone's ass
  5. busted the dust
  6. busted up
  7. busted valise
  8. busted valises
  9. bustee
  10. bustees
  11. buster

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: busted up (page history and authors); bust up (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: “busted up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/busted_up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.