buster

noun13

1. •
   (informal) Someone who or something that bursts, breaks, or destroys a specified thing.

   • Now death, I pray thee what is it, but a buster of bonds; a destruction of toyle? — 1614
2. •
   (slang) Forming compounds denoting a team, weapon, or device specialized in the destruction of the first element.

   • German ‘balloon busters’ attack the Dover barrage. — 1940
3. •
   (informal, slang) Forming compounds denoting an agent or agency tasked with reducing or eliminating the first element.

   • Men nicknamed him the ‘Booze Buster’, and cartoonists loved to picture him, revolver in hand,... fighting the demon rum. — 1920
4. •
   (informal, slang) a man one is talking to, used when speaking straight to a man, often in an annoyed way and without knowing his name

   • That's generous, old buster. — 1838
5. •
   (informal) Someone who or something that 'breaks', tames, or overpowers a specified person or thing.
6. •
   (informal, slang) A broncobuster.

   • The buster must be careful to keep well away from sheds and timber. — 1891
7. •
   (slang, old-fashioned) Someone or something remarkable, especially for being loud, large, etc.

   • ‘I had to clean this old roarer,’ continued the ‘editor’... as he wiped the barrel of his pistol. ‘She's a buster, I tell you.’ — 1833
8. •
   (slang, old-fashioned) A gale, a strong wind; (especially Australia) a southerly buster.

   • ‘This is a buster,’ i.e. a powerful or heavy wind. — 1848
9. •
   (Australia, New-Zealand) A heavy fall; (also performing arts) a staged fall, a pratfall.

   • Dainty... came down ‘a buster’ at the last hurdle, and Scots Grey cantered in by himself. — 1874
10. •
    (US) A molting crab.

    • In that state he is called a ‘Buster’, bursting his shell. — 1855
11. •
    (slang) A cheat's die whose sides bear only certain combinations of spots, so that undesirable values can never be rolled.

    • Tops and Bottoms (also Tops, Busters, Ts, Mis-spots): These are the dice used by the professional cheats. — 1961
12. •
    (slang, no longer used) A drinking spree, a binge.

    • They were on a buster, and were taken up by the police. — 1848
13. •
    (slang, no longer used) A loaf of bread.

    • Three penny busters, and a whole kit-full of winegar and mustard. — 1835