• enPR: bĭz'i, IPA: /ˈbɪzi/

busy (comparative busier, superlative busiest)

1. Crowded with business or activities; having a great deal going on.
   • c. 1593, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene iii]:

     To-morrow is a busy day.

   We crossed a busy street.

2. Engaged in activity or by someone else.

   The director cannot see you now: he's busy.

   Her telephone has been busy all day.

   He is busy with piano practice.

   They are busy getting ready for the annual meeting.

3. Having a lot going on; complicated or intricate.

   Flowers, stripes, and checks in the same fabric make for a busy pattern.

4. Officious; meddling.
   • 1603, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice, IV. ii. 130:

     I will be hanged if some eternal villain, / Some busy and insinuating rogue, / Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office, / Have not devised this slander; I'll be hanged else.

• swamped

• busy as a beaver
• busy as a bee
• busybody
• busyness
• busy work

• French: occupé
• German: beschäftigt
• Italian: indaffarato
• Spanish: ocupado

• French: occupé
• German: beschäftigt
• Italian: occupato
• Portuguese: ocupado
• Russian: занято́й
• Spanish: ocupado

• French: occupé
• German: besetzt, beschäftigt
• Italian: occupato
• Portuguese: ocupado
• Russian: за́нятый
• Spanish: ocupado

• Spanish: complicado

busy (busies, present participle busying; past and past participle busied)

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

• French: livrer
• German: beschäftigen

busy (plural busies)

1. (slang, UK, Liverpool, derogatory) A police officer.