subs. (common).—1. A small new loaf; also a coarse cake or bun of large size: cf. STARVER.
1821. W. T. MONCRIEFF, Tom and Jerry, ii., 3. I say, do you hear, let’s have a twopenny BURSTER, half a quartern of beesvax, a ha’p’orth ’o ingens, and a dollop o’ salt along vith it, vill you?
1841. The Comic Almanack, 1835–43 (HOTTEN) 295.
| Cut us a slap-up slice of Cheshire cheese, | |
| And tip’s a twopenny BURSTER, if you please. |
1849. Bell’s Life [From Baumann]. A BURSTER with a slice of beeswax.
1876. C. HINDLEY, ed. The Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, 192. Mo and his man were having a great breakfast one morning at Newcastle, off a twopenny BUSTER and a small bit of butter, with some wishy-washy coffee….
c. 1882. Broadside Ballad.
| I can’t get at it, I can’t get at it, | |
| I like the faggots tho’ they smell, | |
| But now the penny ’s down the well, | |
| I thought I’d have a BUSTER but it’s all no go! |
1899. R. WHITEING, No. 5 John Street, ix. A formidable kind of bun which here circulates under the name of ‘BUSTER.’
1879. J. W. HORSLEY, ‘Autobiography of a Thief,’ in Macmillan’s Magazine, XL., 582. BUSTERS and screwsmen (burglars).
3. (common).—Anything of superior size, unusual capacity, or the highest quality. Hence to COME AN AWFUL BUSTER = to fall heavily, to come a cropper; IN FOR A BUSTER = prepared, ready, determined for a spree, or any matter.
1843. W. T. PORTER, ed., The Big Bear of Arkansas, etc., p. 24. I went on, larning something every day, until I was reckened a BUSTER, and allowed to be decidedly the best bar hunter in my district.
1852. H. B. STOWE, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, x. ‘Lor, Pete,’ said Mose, triumphantly, ‘han’t we got a BUSTER of a breakfast!’ at the same time catching at a fragment of the chicken.
1860. DICKENS, Great Expectations, vii., 28. ‘At such time as when your sister is on the Ram-page, Pip,’ Joe sank his voice to a whisper, and glanced at the door, ‘candour compels fur to admit that she is a BUSTER.’
1859. BARTLETT, Dictionary of Americanisms, s.v. BUSTER. Applied also to any large person, especially to overgrown children. ‘Ain’t he a BUSTER.’ ‘Come here, BUSTER,’ in the sense of ‘sonny,’ ‘who’s your daddy?’
1870. Popular Song on Franco-German War.
| … Thank God, my dear Augusta, | |
| We’ve had another awful BUSTER, | |
| Ten thousand Frenchmen sent below, | |
| Praise God from whom all blessings flow! |
c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘I’ll never go courting again.’
| And a baker he gave me a BUSTER, | |
| With a ‘brick,’ sent me rolling about. |
4. (Australian).—A heavy dust storm from the south: also SOUTHERLY-BUSTER and BRICK-FIELDER (q.v.).
1863. F. FOWLER, in Athenæum, Feb. 21, 264, 1. The cold wind or SOUTHERLY BUSTER which … carries a thick cloud of dust … across the city.
1878. The Australian, i., 587. SOUTHERLY BUSTERS by ‘Ironbark.’
1885. Household Words, 10 Oct., 463. In anxious expectation we now awaited the result of this curious phenomenon of darkest night in day, which, accustomed to the portents that sometimes herald in the terrific BUSTERS of these southern seas, as most of us were, all declared they had never seen it equalled.
1886. F. COWAN, Australia: a Charcoal Sketch. The BUSTER and brickfielder: austral red-dust blizzard; and red-hot Simoom.
1889. REV. J. H. ZILLMANN, Australian Life, 40. Generally these winds end in what is commonly called a SOUTHERLY BUSTER. This is preceded by a lull in the hot wind; then suddenly (as it has been put) it is as though a bladder of cool air were exploded, and the strong cool southerly air drives up with tremendous force. However pleasant the change of temperature may be, it is no mere pastime to be caught in a SOUTHERLY BUSTER, but the drifting rain which always follows soon sets matters right, allays the dust, and then follows the calm fresh bracing wind which is the more delightful by contrast with the misery through which one has passed for three long dreary days and nights.
1893. The Australian, Aug. 12, 302, 1. You should see him with Commodore Jack out in the teeth of the ‘hard glad weather,’ when a SOUTHERLY BUSTER sweeps up the harbour.
1896. H. A. HUNT, in Three Essays on Australian Weather (Sydney), 16. An Essay on SOUTHERLY BURSTERS,… with Four Photographs and Five Diagrams [TITLE].
5. (common).—A frolic, a spree.
6. (common).—A roistering blade; a dashing fellow.
