bus
Hurry or you'll miss the bus!
A large vehicle that people pay to travel on
Hurry or you'll miss the bus!
Oxford Essential Dictionary
bus
noun (plural buses)
a large vehicle that carries a lot of people along the road and stops often so they can get on and off:
We went to town by bus.
Where do you get off the bus?
word building
You can get on or off a bus at a bus stop and the place where most bus routes start is the bus station. The bus driver will take the money (your fare) and give you your ticket. You can buy a single ticket for a one-way journey or a return ticket if you want to come back again: Return to Woodstock, please. Note that we travel on the bus or by bus: 'How do you get to school?' 'By bus.'
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
bus
I. bus1 S1 W2 /bʌs/ BrE AmE noun (plural buses or busses especially American English) [countable]
[Date: 1800-1900; Origin: omnibus]
1. a large vehicle that people pay to travel on
on a bus
There were a lot of people on the bus.
by bus
The best way to get there is by bus.
I took a bus to San Francisco.
Buses run at 15 and 30 minutes past the hour.
2. a ↑circuit that connects the main parts of a computer so that signals can be sent from one part of the computer to another
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ go/travel by bus I usually go to work by bus.
▪ go on the bus/use the bus (=travel by bus) It's easier to go on the bus than to drive.
▪ get/take/catch a bus Can we get a bus from here to Reading?
▪ ride a bus American English It was the first time Craig had ridden a bus downtown by himself.
▪ get on/off a bus Several more passengers got on the bus.
▪ wait for a bus We were waiting for the bus for half an hour.
▪ miss the bus (=be too late to get on a bus) He woke up late and missed the bus.
▪ a bus goes/leaves The last bus went ten minutes ago.
▪ a bus comes/arrives I waited and waited but the bus didn't come.
▪ buses run (=go at regular times) The buses run less frequently on a Sunday.
■ bus + NOUN
▪ a bus ride/journey/trip It's a 20-minute bus ride into town.
▪ a bus stop (=a place where a bus stops for passengers) She got off at the next bus stop.
▪ a bus shelter (=a small covered area where you wait for a bus) Some kids had vandalized the bus shelter.
▪ a bus service (=a service that provides regular buses) It's a small village but there is a good bus service.
▪ a bus route We live very near a main bus route.
▪ a bus fare (=the money you pay for a bus journey) Can you lend me 50p for my bus fare?
▪ a bus ticket She lost her bus ticket.
▪ a bus pass (=a card that allows you to make several bus journeys) Most of the students have a termly bus pass.
▪ a bus station (=a place where buses start and finish their journeys) Dad met me at the bus station.
▪ a bus lane (=a part of the road where only buses are allowed to drive) You can be fined for driving in a bus lane.
▪ a bus driver She asked the bus driver where to get off for the Botanical Gardens.
▪ a bus timetable The bus timetable changes on January 31st.
▪ a bus queue British English (=a line of people waiting for a bus) We were chatting while we stood in the bus queue.
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + bus
▪ a school bus Hurry up or you'll miss the school bus!
▪ a shuttle bus (=one that makes regular short journeys between two places) There's a shuttle bus between the hotel and the beach.
▪ a double-decker bus (=one with two levels for passengers) London used to be famous for its double-decker buses.
▪ an open-topped bus (=one without a roof, used for showing tourists a town etc) We took a tour on an open-topped bus.
▪ a regular bus (=one that goes at regular times) Regular buses run to the airport.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ bus a large vehicle that people pay to travel on: There were a lot of people on the bus.
▪ coach British English a bus with comfortable seats used for long journeys: Taking the coach is cheaper than the train.
▪ minibus a small bus with seats for six to twelve people: The school uses a minibus to take teams to matches.
▪ double-decker a bus with two levels: the red double-deckers in London
▪ articulated bus (also bendy bus British English) a very long bus that has a joint in the middle that allows it to go around corners: Articulated buses have been used in Europe for many years.
▪ tram British English, streetcar American English, trolley/trolley car American English a vehicle for passengers, which travels along metal tracks in the street, and usually gets power from electric lines over the vehicle: We waited at the stop for the tram. | San Diego has a well-used trolley system.
▪ tram American English a vehicle with many different parts for people to sit in, and which usually has open sides. A tram runs on wheels and is used to take tourists from place to place within a particular area: The tram takes visitors around the backlot of Universal Studios, where many famous movies were once made.
II. bus2 BrE AmE verb (past tense and past participle bused or bussed, present participle busing or bussing)
[Sense 1: Date: 1900-2000; Origin: ⇨ ↑bus1]
[Sense 2: Date: 1900-2000; Origin: busboy]
1. [transitive usually passive] to take a person or a group of people somewhere in a bus
bus somebody to/in/into something
Casey was bussed to the school.
2. [transitive] American English to take away dirty dishes from the tables in a restaurant:
Shelley had a job bussing tables.
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
bus
bus [bus busses buses bussed bused bussing busing] noun, verb [bʌs] [bʌs]
noun
(pl. buses, US also busses)
1. a large road vehicle that carries passengers, especially one that travels along a fixed route and stops regularly to let people get on and off
• Shall we walk or go by bus?
• A regular bus service connects the train station with the town centre.
• a bus company/driver
• a school bus
compare coach
see also bus lane, bus shelter, bus station, bus stop, minibus, trolleybus
2. (computing) a set of wires that carries information from one part of a computer system to another
Word Origin:
early 19th cent.: shortening of omnibus.
Thesaurus:
bus noun C
• Shall we go by bus?
BrE coach • • minibus • |AmE van •
by bus/coach/minibus/van
get on/off a bus/coach/minibus
get in/out of a minibus/van
Bus or coach? In British English a bus that carries passengers over a long distance is called a coach.
Example Bank:
• I left work a bit late and had to run for my bus.
• I missed the last bus and had to walk.
• I waited 40 minutes for a bus.
• Is this the bus for Oxford?
• It's about 15 minutes away by bus.
• Local buses run regularly to and from the campus.
• Look up the bus schedule on the Internet.
• Look up the bus times in the local timetable.
• The bus left the city, heading north.
• The bus pulled up and we got on.
• The buses stop outside the post office.
• The double-decker bus stopped to pick up some more passengers.
• There are regular buses to the beach.
• We took the bus from Reading to Bristol.
• a bus carrying 56 passengers
• a four-hour bus journey over the mountains
• a short bus journey to work
• people travelling on buses
• people who travel on buses
• the bus from Charlottesville to Union Station
• the bus into town
• Have you got a bus timetable?
• I was waiting at the bus stop.
• It's a short bus ride from here.
• Shall we walk or go by bus?
• The map shows all the local bus routes.
• There is a bus, the number 18, which stops outside the house.
• When we go on a double-decker bus the children always want to sit upstairs.
verb (-s- or -ss-)
1. ~ sb (from/to…) to transport sb by bus
• We were bussed from the airport to our hotel.
2. ~ sb (NAmE) to transport young people by bus to another area so that students of different races can be educated together
3. ~ sth (NAmE) to take the dirty plates, etc. off the tables in a restaurant, as a job
• He buses tables to help finance his tuition.
Word Origin:
early 19th cent.: shortening of omnibus.
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
bus
bus /bʌs/
noun [C] plural buses or US ALSO busses
a large vehicle in which people are driven from one place to another:
You should take the bus/go by bus (= travel by bus) if you want to see the sights.
See also minibus; omnibus (TRANSPORT); trolleybus.
bus /bʌs/
verb [T] -ss- or US USUALLY -s-
1 to take people somewhere by bus:
Demonstrators were bussed in from all parts of the country to attend the protest rally.
2 US to take children by bus to school in another area every day
coach
coach (VEHICLE) /kəʊtʃ/ US /koʊtʃ/
noun [C]
1 (US USUALLY bus) a long motor vehicle with comfortable seats, used to take groups of people on journeys:
We're going to the airport by coach.
a coach trip.
2 an old-fashioned carriage pulled by horses, now used mainly in official or royal ceremonies
3 UK (US car) a carriage in a train
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary
bus
/bʌs/
(buses, busses, bussing, bussed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
Note: The plural form of the noun is 'buses'. The third person singular of the verb is 'busses'. American English uses the spellings 'buses', 'busing', 'bused' for the verb.
1.
A bus is a large motor vehicle which carries passengers from one place to another. Buses drive along particular routes, and you have to pay to travel in them.
He missed his last bus home...
They had to travel everywhere by bus.
N-COUNT: also by N
2.
When someone is bussed to a particular place or when they bus there, they travel there on a bus.
On May Day hundreds of thousands used to be bussed in to parade through East Berlin...
To get our Colombian visas we bussed back to Medellin...
Essential services were provided by Serbian workers bussed in from outside the province.
VERB: be V-ed adv/prep, V adv/prep, V-ed, also V n adv/prep
3.
In some parts of the United States, when children are bused to school, they are transported by bus to a school in a different area so that children of different races can be educated together.
Many schools were in danger of closing because the children were bused out to other neighborhoods.
VERB: usu passive, be V-ed adv/prep
• bus‧ing
The courts ordered busing to desegregate the schools.
Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary
1bus /ˈbʌs/ noun, pl bus·es also US bus·ses : a large vehicle that is used for carrying passengers especially along a particular route at particular times
[count]
• She boarded a bus in Nashville.
[noncount]
• I usually go to work by bus. = I usually take the bus to work.
• Are you traveling by train or by bus?
- often used before another noun
• a bus driver
• a bus station
• waiting at the bus stop [=one of the places where a bus stops for passengers to get on or off]
