Only attrib. [? Short f. BUSBY; or related to prec.; cf. bush, fuzz, and ‘Sergeant Buzfuz’ in Pickwick.]

1

  1.  Epithet of a large bushy wig. Also in comb. buzz-wig, a person wearing such a wig; ‘a bigwig.’

2

1798.  [see 2].

3

1816.  Scott, Antiq., xvii. The reverend gentleman was equipped in a buzz wig.

4

1826.  Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. II. (1863), 357, note. The full swelling burly buzz wig.

5

1854.  De Quincey, Sp. Mil. Nun, Wks. III. 69. Whom the old Spanish buzwigs doated on.

6

1859.  W. Irving, in Life, IV. 283. Old Dr. Rodgers with his buzz wig.

7

  2.  transf. (See quot.)

8

1798.  Anti Jacobin, 22 Jan. (1852), 47. Parr’s buzz prose. Footnote, This is an elegant metonymy…. Buzz is an epithet usually applied to a large wig. It is here used for swelling, burly, bombastic writing.

9