Word.ws English Dictionary

busying

busying is the present participle and gerund of busy.

Meaning of busy

Verb

busy (third-person singular simple present busies, present participle busying, simple past and past participle busied)

  1. (reflexive, transitive, usually) To make somebody busy or active; to occupy.
    • On my vacation I'll busy myself with gardening.

See all 7 meanings of busy

Noun

busying (plural busyings)

  1. busyness; making oneself busy with something
    • All of you have some business or other to do in the world. Are not your thoughts, and talkings, and busyings, and anxieties, and cares, altogether about the business you have to do?1853, The Cottage Lamp, an aid to happiness in this world and the next
    • And as other dreams come from the multitude of business, so from such like busyings of the mind, we shall pray but dreamingly and distemperedly.1856, Thomas Cobbet, Gospel Incense Or a Practical Treatise on Prayer, page 296

Forms of busying

pluralbusyings

Phrases with busying

Questions about busying

What does busying mean?
Busying means busyness; making oneself busy with something.
What is busying the present participle and gerund of?
Busying is the present participle and gerund of busy.
What part of speech is busying?
Busying is a noun.
What is the plural of busying?
The plural of busying is busyings.

Words near busying in the dictionary

  1. busybody
  2. busybodying
  3. busybodyish
  4. busybodyism
  5. busybodyness
  6. busying
  7. busying around
  8. busyings
  9. busyish
  10. busyness
  11. busynesse

Source and license

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