Bus

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /bʌs/

Definitions

1. A motorized vehicle intended for the transport of numerous passengers along established routes
2. A large public conveyance that transports groups of people between designated stops in urban and suburban areas
3. A vehicle designed to carry multiple passengers from one location to another, often stopping at specific points along a route

Etymology: The word "bus" is a clipping of "omnibus," a Latin-derived term meaning "for all." In the 1820s, horse-drawn carriages running set routes in Paris and London were marketed as omnibuses, and passengers and drivers soon shortened the name to "bus." The clipped form was once marked with an apostrophe, "'bus," a sign that speakers still felt it was a shortened version of something longer. That apostrophe has since disappeared, and the clipping now stands on its own. The electrical sense, as in a bus carrying data inside a computer or a power bus in a circuit, came later and is a figurative extension of the vehicle sense. A shared channel that many passengers ride on was extended to a shared line that many signals travel along.

Synonyms: coach, shuttle, transit