[a. F. buste (of which Littré gives no examples earlier than 17th c.), ad. It. busto = Sp., Pg. busto, Pr. bustz (rare). The primary sense in It., and the only sense in Pr., is ‘trunk or upper portion of the body.’ The origin of the Romanic word has not been satisfactorily ascertained; see Diez, Scheler, Littré.]
1. A piece of sculpture representing the head, shoulders and breast of a person. Cf. BUSTO.
1691. Wood, Ath. Oxon., I. 264. Over his grave was … the Statua or Bust … to the middle part of his body.
1768. Earl Carlisle, in G. Selwyn & Contemp., II. 311. I have this morning been sitting for my bust, which is to be done in marble.
1816. Byron, Ch. Har., III. lxvi. Their tomb was simple, and without a bust. Ibid. (1821), Juan, III. viii. Romances paint at full length people’s wooings, But only give a bust of marriages.
1839. Thirlwall, Greece, III. 3. The reward … consisted in three stone busts of Hermes.
¶ ? Influenced by L. bustum sepulchral monument.
1735. Pope, Epist. Lady, 139. But die, and she’ll adore you—then the bust And temple rise—then fall again to dust.
a. 1761. Cawthorn, Elegy Capt. Hughes. Nature! ’tis thine … To teach … The dirge to murmur, and the bust to rise.
a. 1771. Gray, (1775), Poems. Can storied urn or animated bust Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
2. The upper front part of the human body; the bosom (esp. of a woman).
1727–51. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., In speaking of an antique, we say the head is marble, and the bust porphyry, or bronze, that is, the stomach and shoulders.
1819. Byron, Juan, II. cxix. There was an Irish lady, to whose bust I ne’er saw justice done.
1835. W. Irving, Tour Prairies, 32. His naked bust would have furnished a model for a statuary.
1886. Miss Cleveland in Pall Mall Gaz., 13 March, 13/2. I do not approve of any dress which shows the bust.
† 3. transf. A swelling or protuberance. Obs.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, I. viii. It [i.e., a necklace] reached down to the very bust of the rising of his belly [Fr. à la boucque du petit ventre.]
4. attrib. and Comb., as bust-maker, bust-like adj.
1826. Blackw. Mag., XIX. 393. Her lips were not wont to be so cold and white … not so moveless and bustlike her bosom.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. V. iv. 217. Will the Bust-Procession pass that way?
1860. Hawthorne, Marb. Faun, I. i. 5. You never chiselled … a more vivid likeness than this, cunning bust-maker as you think yourself.
