busk

1. perform music or other entertainment in the street or another public place for monetary donations.

   the group began by busking on Philadelphia sidewalks

2. improvise.

mid 17th century: from obsolete French busquer ‘seek’, from Italian buscare or Spanish buscar, of Germanic origin. Originally in nautical use in the sense ‘cruise about, tack’, the term later meant ‘go about selling things’, hence ‘go about performing’ (mid 19th century).

noun

a stay or stiffening strip for a corset.

late 16th century: from French busc, from Italian busco ‘splinter’ (related to French bûche ‘log’), of Germanic origin.