A busk (also spelled busque) is a rigid element of a

corset A corset is a support garment commonly worn to hold and train the torso into a desired shape, traditionally a smaller waist or larger bottom, for aesthetic or medical purposes (either for the duration of wearing it or with a more lasting effe ...

at the centre front of the garment. Two types exist, one- and two-part busks. Single-piece busks were used in " stays" and bodices from the sixteenth to early nineteenth centuries and were intended to keep the front of the corset or bodice straight and upright. They were typically made of wood, ivory, or bone slipped into a pocket and tied in place with a lace called the ''busk point''. These busks were often carved and decorated, or inscribed with messages, and were popular gifts from men to women during courtship. In the middle of the nineteenth century, a new form of busk appeared. It was made of two long pieces of steel, one with loops and the other with posts, that functioned in the same way as hook and eye fastenings or buttons on a garment. This made corsets considerably easier to put on and take off, as the laces did not have to be loosened as much as when the corset had to go over the wearer's head and shoulders. The second half of the nineteenth century also saw the invention of the

spoon busk The spoon busk was a specialised kind of busk—the rigid element of a corset placed at the centre front. As its name implies, it was shaped like a spoon, with the bottom part of the busk widening and taking a dished form. It was invented in 1 ...

.From The Corset: A Cultural History by Valerie Steele. 208 pag. Yale University Press (2003).

References

{{corsetry Corsetry History of clothing (Western fashion)