buzzer

From buzz +‎ -er.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbʌzə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbʌzɚ/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌzə(ɹ)

buzzer (plural buzzers)

1. One who, or that which, buzzes; an insect that buzzes.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v]:

     And wants not buzzers to infect his ear / With pestilent speeches of his father's death.

   • 1895, George Meredith, The Amazing Marriage:

     ... it left, however, a bee at his ear and an itch to transfer the buzzer's attentions and tease his darling; for she had betrayed herself as right good game.

2. A device that makes a buzzing sound.

   If you think you know the answer to the question, hit the buzzer as fast as you can.

   • 1955 March, “Train Describers at Euston”, in Railway Magazine, page 170:

     If a train enters the forward section before its description has been transmitted, a "not described" lamp is illuminated on the transmitter, an alarm buzzer is sounded, and the lamp remains alight until a description has been transmitted.

3. (US slang) A police badge.
   • 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 28:

     I flipped my wallet open on her desk and let her look at the buzzer pinned to the flap.

4. (cricket, slang) A run scored from an overthrow.
5. (UK, thieves' cant, obsolete) A pickpocket.
   • 1949, Thomas Burke, The Streets of London Through the Centuries, page 122:

     The pickpocket was a Buzzer. The man who booked a room at a hotel, and went round the rooms of other guests, was a Snoozer.

   • 2012, Ben Macintyre, The Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of Adam Worth, page 19:

     […] a 'buzzer', for whom picking pockets was an art […]

   • 2016, M. J. Carter, The Printer's Coffin:

     You can't do the street stuff for ever, you lose your dexterity. I was the oldest and I was trained up for a buzzer — a street thief […]

6. (obsolete) A gossip.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v]:

     Her brother is in secret come from France,
     Feeds on this wonder, keeps himself in clouds
     And wants not buzzers to infect his ear
     With pestilent speeches of his father's death.

• → Japanese: ブザー (buzā)
• → Korean: 버저 (beojeo)