bustles

Noun

bustle (countable and uncountable, plural bustles)

1. An excited activity; a stir.
   • the hum and bustle; a din and bustle

   Synonyms:

   ado, hustle

2. (countable) A cover to protect and hide the back panel of a computer or other office machine.
3. (countable, historical) A frame worn underneath a woman's skirt, typically only protruding from the rear as opposed to the earlier more circular hoops.
   • A grotesque-looking lady wearing a bustle (Anna mentally undressed the woman, and was appalled at her hideousness), and a little girl laughing affectedly ran down the platform.1901 [1878], chapter 31, in Constance Garnett, transl., Anna Karenina, translation of Анна Каренина (Anna Karenina) by Leo Tolstoy, part 7

   Synonyms:

   tournure

4. (UK, obsolete, slang, uncountable) Money; cash.
   • Why the old clerical's turned coper—a new way of raising the wind——letting his friends down easy—gave you a good dinner, I suppose, Sir John, and took this method of drawing the bustle for it: an old trick of the reverend's.1825, Charles Molloy Westmacott, The English Spy, page 236

See all 8 meanings of bustle