Definition

1. Noun:

   • A large motor vehicle designed to carry many passengers, typically along a fixed route: A bus is a common form of public transportation.
   • (Computing) A communication system that transfers data between components inside a computer or between computers: This is a technical meaning, referring to a shared pathway for data.
   • (Informal) An old or unreliable car: This is a slang usage.

2. Verb:

   • To travel by bus: To use a bus as a means of transport.
   • To transport people by bus: To move a group of people using buses.
   • To clear tables in a restaurant or cafeteria: To remove dirty dishes from a table.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:

  • She takes the bus to work every day to save money.
  • The data bus allows the processor to communicate with the memory.
  • He's still driving that old bus; it's a miracle it runs.

• Verb:

  • We bused across the country on a budget tour.
  • The school bused the students to the museum for the field trip.
  • My first job was to bus tables at a busy diner.

Advanced Usage

• "To miss the bus" (idiom): To miss an opportunity or to be too late.

  • If we don't invest now, we'll miss the bus on this new technology.

• "Bus lane": A lane on a road reserved for buses.

  • Cars are not allowed to drive in the bus lane during rush hour.

Variants and Related Words

• Busbar (noun): An electrical conductor for collecting and distributing current, often used in power systems. (Related to the computing "bus").
• Busboy / Busser (noun): A person whose job is to clear tables in a restaurant. (Related to the verb "to bus").
• Busload (noun): An amount that fills a bus.
  • A busload of tourists arrived at the monument.

Synonyms

• Coach / Motorcoach: A comfortable bus used for longer journeys.
• Omnibus: A formal or old-fashioned term for a bus.
• Shuttle: A bus that travels back and forth on a short, regular route.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Bus in: To bring people to a place by bus.
  • Protesters were bused in from neighboring towns.
• Bus out: To send people away from a place by bus.
  • After the concert, attendees were bused out to the parking lots.

Related Idioms

• Throw someone under the bus: To sacrifice someone else for personal gain, especially by blaming them.
  • To save his own job, he threw his colleague under the bus.
• Park the bus (soccer/football idiom): To have all players defend deeply, leaving no space for the attacking team.
  • The team decided to park the bus to protect their one-goal lead.

Noun

1. a car that is old and unreliable
   • the fenders had fallen off that old bus
2. an electrical conductor that makes a common connection between several circuits
   • the busbar in this computer can transmit data either way between any two components of the system
3. the topology of a network whose components are connected by a busbar
4. a vehicle carrying many passengers; used for public transport
   • he always rode the bus to work

Verb

1. remove used dishes from the table in restaurants
2. ride in a bus
3. send or move around by bus
   • The children were bussed to school