bustle1

 
Pronunciation: /ˈbʌs(ə)l/

verb

[no object, with adverbial of direction]
  • move in an energetic and busy manner: people clutching clipboards bustled about
  • [with object and adverbial of direction] cause to move hurriedly in a particular direction: she bustled us into the kitchen
  • [no object] (of a place) be full of activity: the streets bustled with people (as adjective bustling) the bustling little town

noun

[mass noun]
  • excited activity and movement: all the noise and the traffic and the bustle

Origin:

late Middle English: perhaps a variant of obsolete buskle, frequentative of busk 'prepare', from Old Norse