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Glite Dictionary
drugs bust

drugs bust

3.7
An event when police take illegal drugs and arrest people
  • noun
  • /drʌɡz bʌst/
  • NSFW
translation icon : operativo antidrogas
  • After a lengthy investigation, the task force executed a drugs bust that led to several arrests.

Examples

  • On 60 Minutes: Drug Bust! ... and also how college football resembles corporate America more than it does, you know, college football.

    Blog text (33)

  • The police coordinated a large drugs bust that resulted in the seizure of multiple kilograms of cocaine.

  • The recent drugs bust uncovered a hidden stash of illegal substances in a local warehouse.

Synonyms

drug bust
vsdrugs bust
  • NSFW
14 3.1

An occasion when police take illegal drugs and arrest people

has identical sense but uses alternate phrasing
buy-and-bust operation
vsdrugs bust
  • NSFW
7.6

A police action in which officers pretend to buy illegal drugs to arrest sellers

is a wider police seizure incident not limited to undercover purchase stings

Surface Forms

drugs bust singular
drugs busts plural

Morphology

drug + bust

The meaning 'an incident in which police seize illegal drugs' is directly derivable from combining 'drugs' (illegal substances) with 'bust' (a raid/arrest), so the noun simply names a bust involving drugs. The composition follows a common noun-modifier pattern and the sense of 'bust' as a police raid is widely used, making it immediately understandable to learners who know both constituents.

Etymology

Drugs bust comes from a police saying where bust meant 'to break into' or 'to arrest'. Imagine officers breaking down a door to take the illegal drugs, and that picture is why drugs bust now means 'an incident when police take illegal drugs'.