bus

英文词源

bus

bus: [19] Bus is, of course, short for omnibus. The first person on record as using it was the British writer Harriet Martineau, who spelled it buss: ‘if the station offers me a place in the buss’, Weal and woe in Garveloch 1832. Omnibus itself was borrowed from French, where it was first applied in 1828 to a voiture omnibus, literally ‘carriage for everyone’ (omnibus is the dative plural of Latin omnis ‘all’).

bus (n.)

1832, abbreviation of omnibus (q.v.). The modern English noun is nothing but a Latin dative plural ending. To miss the bus, in the figurative sense of "lose an opportunity," is from 1901, Australian English (OED has a figurative miss the omnibus from 1886). Busman's holiday "leisure time spent doing what one does for a living" (1893) is probably a reference to London bus drivers riding the buses on their days off.

bus (v.)

1838, "to travel by omnibus," from bus (n.). Transitive meaning "transport students to integrate schools" is from 1961, American English. Meaning "clear tables in a restaurant" is first attested 1913, probably from the four-wheeled cart used to carry dishes. Related: Bused; busing.