abuzz

abuzz

English

WOTD – 23 March 2020

Etymology

From a- (prefix indicating a condition or manner) +‎ buzz (“feeling or rush of energy or excitement; major topic of conversation; widespread rumor; information spread behind the scenes”) or buzz (“to show a high level of activity and haste; to communicate in an undertone; to spread, as a report, by whispers or secretly; to talk to incessantly or confidentially in a low humming voice”).[1]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /əˈbʌz/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌz

Adjective

abuzz (comparative more abuzz, superlative most abuzz)

1. (postpositive) Characterized by a high level of activity or gossip; in a buzz (“feeling or rush of energy or excitement”), buzzing.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:active

   • 1859, Charles Dickens, “The Game Made”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], OCLC 906152507, book III (The Track of a Storm), page 212:

     The court was all astir and a-buzz, when the black sheep—whom many fell away from in dread—pressed him into an obscure corner among the crowd.

   • 1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “The Night-school and the Schoolmaster”, in Adam Bede […], volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, OCLC 2108290, book second, page 124:

     There's too many women in the house for me: I hate the sound of women's voices; they're always either a-buzz or a-squeak, always either a-buzz or a-squeak.

   • 1879, T. DeWitt Talmage [i.e., Thomas De Witt Talmage], “The Sins of Summer Watering Places”, in The Masque Torn Off, Chicago, Ill.: J. Fairbanks & Co. [et al.], OCLC 909708, page 171:

     The long silent halls of sumptuous hotels are all abuzz with excited arrivals.

   • 1902, Francis Lynde, “How a King’s Trooper Became a Wastrel”, in The Master of Appleby: […], New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, OCLC 9856495, page 289:

     Now what a-devil has set this hornet's nest of theirs abuzz so suddenly?

   • 1913 July, Peter B[ernhard] Kyne, “The Long Chance: The Tale of a Hat Ranch”, in Charles K[ellogg] Field, editor, Sunset: The Pacific Monthly, volume 31, number 1, San Francisco, Calif.: Southern Pacific Company, OCLC 1098947818, page 131, column 2:

     The town was abuzz with excitement for an hour, when the news became stale.

   • 2005 June, Cory Doctorow, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town‎, New York, N.Y.: Tor Books, →ISBN; 1st trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Tom Doherty Associates, 2006, →ISBN:

     It was coming up on the cusp of July and August, and he remembered boyhood summers on the mountain's slopes abuzz with blackflies and syrupy heat.

   • 2015, Lauren Dane, chapter 20, in Back to You, Don Mills, Ont.: HQN Books, →ISBN, page 237:

     The ranch was abuzz with activity and had been for hours.

Translations

characterized by a high level of activity or gossip; in a buzz

Bulgarian: бръмчащ (bg) (brǎmčašt) German: schwirren (de) Italian: ronzante (it), rumoreggiante (it) Maori: rorohū, rangorango (like a blowfly) Russian: гудя́щий (ru) m (gudjáščij), гудя́щая f (gudjáščaja), гудя́щее n (gudjáščeje)

References

1. “abuzz, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2011; “abuzz, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

• Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], →ISBN), page 8.