Word.ws English Dictionary

busting a gut

busting a gut is the present participle and gerund of bust a gut.

Meaning of bust a gut

Verb

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

  1. (slang) To work or try very hard.
    • I had to really bust a gut to get it done by the deadline.
  2. (slang) To develop a pain in the side from laughing hard.
    • Something about the way he said that made me just bust a gut: I practically died laughing!

Questions about busting a gut

What is busting a gut the present participle and gerund of?
Busting a gut is the present participle and gerund of bust a gut.

Words near busting a gut in the dictionary

  1. bustily
  2. bustin'
  3. bustiness
  4. busting
  5. busting a cap
  6. busting a gut
  7. busting a move
  8. busting a nut
  9. busting a U
  10. busting around
  11. busting ass

Source and license

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