bursting

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
burst/bɜːst/

▶verb (past and past part. burst)

• 1 break or cause to break suddenly and violently apart.

• 2 be very full: the wardrobe was bursting with clothes.

  ■ (be bursting with) feel (an irrepressible emotion or impulse).

• 3 move or be opened suddenly and forcibly.

  ■ suddenly begin doing or producing something: an aircraft crashed and burst into flames.

• 4 separate (stationery) into single sheets.

▶noun

• 1 an instance or the result of bursting.

• 2 a sudden brief outbreak of something violent or noisy.

• 3 a period of continuous effort.

– phrases
burst someone's bubble shatter someone's illusions.

– origin OE berstan, of Gmc origin.