busy
part of speech
adjective (busy, busier, busiest); verb (busy yourself — to keep busy)
meaning for a pupil
1) Having a lot to do; working on something now: «Mum is busy cooking». tree →
2) Full of people, traffic or activity: a busy road, a busy shop. tree →
3) Of a phone line: in use, engaged (US: busy; UK: engaged). tree →
4) Of a picture or pattern: with too many details. tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: Here "busy" means occupied with some task, so that the man's attention was elsewhere. Interpretation: The story is a parable told to King Ahab. Tradition reads it as showing how carelessness in a duty brings judgment, and how Ahab condemned himself by his own answer. In the primary lessons: In everyday life: a busy day, a busy schedule; asking «Are you busy?» politely before interrupting. In road safety: busy roads are dangerous — cross only at crossings, hold an adult's hand, stop, look and listen. In nature: «as busy as a bee». Phrases: busy with, busy doing, keep busy, a busy road, as busy as a bee, get busy, busybody.
examples
- And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone.' And the king of Israel said unto him: 'So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.' (Prophets 1KI.20.40, JPS 1917) tree →
- I'm busy doing my homework. tree →
- Are you busy? Can I ask you something? tree →
- Cross the busy road at the zebra crossing. tree →
- Saturday is the busiest day at the shop. tree →
- The bees were busy collecting pollen. tree →
- Keep busy and the time will go faster. tree →
- The line is busy — try again later. tree →
- My dad has a busy job. tree →
- See how busy all my guests are.” tree →
note
Comparisons: busier, busiest (y → i). Say «BIZ-ee» — the u sounds like i. «Business» comes from busy. «Busy doing» (busy reading), «busy with» (busy with work). Opposites: free, quiet, idle.
In the corpora
- Newcomers are busy and tired; the friendly thing is to say hello first instead of deciding they are «stuck up».
- Scattering food in the grass makes gorillas walk and search, which is called foraging, and keeps them busy for longer.
- A wild animal spends most of its day busy: searching for food, digging, climbing, sniffing and chasing.
- Old dogs can learn new tricks, and training keeps an older dog's brain busy and happy.
- Play keeps pets happy; hunting games with toys keep a cat's mind busy.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «busy» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.