bust

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A bust is an image or sculpture of someone's upper body. It can also mean a sudden failure, especially financially.

The word "bust" has two different uses in everyday language. When it comes to art, a bust is a representation of a person from the shoulders up. You might see famous historical figures or fictional characters immortalized as busts on pedestals or in museums. In contrast, when we talk about business or money, a bust refers to a financial collapse or sudden failure. This can happen to companies, industries, or even governments, causing widespread economic damage and instability.

How common is "bust"?

Word bust is considered uncommon in modern English.
It has a balanced usage among all categories: speech, fiction, newspapers and academic texts.

Definitions

verb

(transitive, colloquial, chiefly US) To break.
Example: I busted my cooker while trying to fix it.
(transitive, slang) To arrest (someone or a group of people) for a crime.
Example: Aaron got busted by the feds for leaking confidential government documents on Reddit.
(transitive, slang) To catch (someone) in the act of doing something wrong, socially and morally inappropriate, or illegal, especially when being done in a sneaky or secretive state.
(transitive) To debunk, dispel (a belief).
Example: MythBusters
(snowboarding) An emphatic synonym of do or get.
Example: He busted huge air off that jump!
(US, informal) To reduce in rank.
Example: He busted him down to patrolman for insubordination.
(finance, transitive) To undo a trade, generally an error trade, that has already been executed.
(poker) To lose all of one's chips.
(blackjack) To exceed a score of 21.
(transitive, slang) To break in (an animal).
(transitive, slang) To break in (a woman or girl), to deflower
(intransitive, vulgar, slang) To ejaculate; to eject semen or to squirt.
Example: I busted a fat one just wackin' it to the selfie she sent me.
(journalism, intransitive) For a headline to exceed the amount of space reserved for it.
(chess, slang) To refute an established opening.
(slang, African-American Vernacular, transitive) To shoot (a gun).
Example: He busted his glock.
(slang, African-American Vernacular, intransitive) To attack, hit or insult (someone).
Example: He's always busting on you.
(slang) To do or perform; to move quickly.
Example: Bust a left turn.