Bustle means to move around quickly and busily, usually with a sense of energy and purpose. When your mom bustles around the kitchen before a dinner party, she's rushing from counter to stove to refrigerator, preparing everything with focused energy. When a city street bustles with activity, it's full of people hurrying to work, vendors setting up stands, and cars moving through traffic.

The word captures a particular quality of movement: fast and busy with a somewhat chaotic energy, like watching a beehive where every bee seems to have somewhere important to be. A teacher might bustle around the classroom before students arrive, arranging papers and writing on the board. A train station bustles with travelers pulling suitcases and checking departure times.

Bustle can also be a noun describing that energetic activity itself. You might talk about the bustle of a crowded marketplace or feel overwhelmed by the bustle of a big city if you're used to a quiet town. When something is full of hustle and bustle, it's alive with busy, purposeful movement. The opposite of bustle would be stillness or calm, those peaceful moments when everyone slows down and nothing much is happening.