The verb bustle (to rush about) probably comes from Old Norse "get ready" — while the garment bustle may be an entirely different word that English absorbed under the same spelling.
To move in an energetically busy manner. As a noun, excited and noisy activity, or a pad or frame worn under a skirt to expand and support the back.
The verb likely from a frequentative of Middle English busken (to prepare, make ready), from Old Norse búask (to prepare oneself, get ready). The garment bustle (a frame supporting the back of a skirt) may be a separate word, possibly from German Buschel (bundle, pad) Key roots: búask (Old Norse: "to prepare oneself, get ready"), búa (Old Norse: "to dwell, prepare").
The bustle garment — the padded frame that enlarged the back of women's skirts — had two great periods of popularity: the 1870s and the 1880s. The 1880s 'shelf bustle' was so extreme that cartoonists joked women could serve tea from their posterior shelf. The garment required elaborate engineering — wire cages, horsehair pads, and steel springs kept the fabric dramatically projected. The bustle's decline came suddenly in the 1890s when fashion