Word.ws English Dictionary

busting out

busting out is the present participle and gerund of bust out.

Meaning of bust out

Verb

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

  1. (Canada, US, informal, intransitive) To escape (from); break out.
    • to bust out of prison
  2. (Canada, US, informal, transitive) To free from captivity.
    • They tried to bust the prisoner out, but were thwarted by the police.
  3. (US, informal, intransitive) To reveal, to show; to appear.
    • The signs are everywhere: there are bells and tinsel on street lamps, shoppers on the sidewalks and Santas busting out all over.1977 November 26, Kate Wheeler, “Talk of Our Town: Parade Toasts Polar Visitor”, in The Miami Herald, 1st edition, 67th year, number 361, Miami, Fla., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2-B, column 5
  4. (US, informal, transitive) To bring out; to take out.
    • They decided it was time to bust out the good hooch.
    Synonyms:
    break out
  5. (US, informal, intransitive, nonstandard) To burst out (laughing).
  6. (intransitive) To lose by going bust.

See all 8 meanings of bust out

Questions about busting out

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

Words near busting out in the dictionary

  1. busting one's balls
  2. busting one's chops
  3. busting one's gut
  4. busting one's hump
  5. busting one's neck
  6. busting out
  7. busting someone's agates
  8. busting someone's ass
  9. busting the dust
  10. busting up
  11. bustings

Source and license

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