or bust

English

WOTD – 25 August 2019

Etymology

Indicating that the only alternative to what is being attempted is a bust (“(slang) failed enterprise; bomb”).^[1]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɔː ˈbʌst/
Audio (Received Pronunciation): (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ɔɹ ˈbʌst/, /ɚ ˈbʌst/

Phrase

or bust

(chiefly US, informal) Used to indicate one's intention to do everything possible to achieve a goal, with failure being the only alternative.
- 1905 June 29, N. E. Corthell, “A Family Trek to the Yellowstone”, in Henry Chandler Bowen, editor, The Independent, volume LVIII, number 2952, New York, N.Y.: The Independent, […], →OCLC, page 1460, column 1:
  Nearly half a lifetime I have lived in Laramie, with all the while a great longing to see the wonders of the Yellowstone— [...] so when the boys wrote along the wagon top "Park or Bust," that settled it, and we started July 4th, 1903.
- 1908 September 12, “Campaign Topics”, in Alfred Holman, editor, The Argonaut, volume LXIII, number 1642, San Francisco, Calif.: Argonaut Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 399, column 2:
  Mr. [William Jennings] Bryan recognizes that he must win New York—"or bust." He went there straight from Des Moines and had a three-hour conference with the local leaders.
- 1953 May, “Green Bar Bill” [pseudonym], “Green Bar Bill Says … First Class or Bust!”, in Harry A. Harchar, editor, Boys’ Life: The Magazine for All Boys, volume XLIII, number 5, New York, N.Y.: Boy Scouts of America, →OCLC, page 23, column 2:
  Here it was, in black and white: More than 50 percent of our membership Tenderfoot Scouts, about 25 percent Second Class, only 20 percent First Class or more! [...] Set a goal—something like "First Class or more before '54!" or, if you are more ambitious than that: "First Class or bust, by September Fu'st!"
- 1987, Caroline Bancroft, Colorful Colorado: Its Dramatic History (Bancroft Booklets), Boulder, Colo.: Johnson Books, published 2002, →ISBN, page 44:
  The rush [the Pike's Peak Gold Rush] took on new momentum. [...] Each day fresh emigrants left the outfitting places along the Missouri with signs on their wagons, "Pikes Peak or Bust." During the summer of 1859 a continuing flood of gold-seekers poured across the plains and on into the mountains to conquer the Front and Park Ranges.
- 2014 April 2, Delane Quiver Boyer, “SDSC or Bust”, in Path Chosen: Life of a Lakota: Mi Lakota Yelo, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 82:
  In the fall of 1951, I was on my way to South Dakota State College in Brookings SD with Dale Pettyjohn in his Model A Ford. We painted the back of the Model A in white letters "SDSC or Bust".
- 2018 October 25, “‘Europe or Bust’ Migrants Undeterred in Morocco”, in France 24‎^[1], archived from the original on 25 October 2018:
  For scores of African migrants, it's a case of "Europe or bust", no matter what Moroccan authorities throw at them in the way of detentions and being bussed hundreds of kilometres away.

Derived terms

Cali or bust

Translations

used to indicate one's intention to do everything possible to achieve a goal, with failure being the only alternative

Spanish: o nada

References

^ Compare “—— or bust” at “bust, v.²”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2012; “— or bust” in “bust², phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

brotus, robust, turbos

[1] Compare “—— or bust” at “bust, v.²”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2012; “— or bust” in “bust², phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

[1]