English Explanatory Dictionary

fuzz

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A frizzy mass of hair or fibre.
  2. Quality of an image that is unclear; a blurred image.
  3. The random data used in fuzz testing.
  4. A distorted sound, especially from an electric guitar or other amplified instrument.
  5. A state of befuddlement.
  6. Fuzziness, vagueness.
verb
  1. To make fuzzy.
  2. To become fuzzy.
  3. To make drunk.
  4. To test a software component by running it on randomly generated input.
  5. To fly off in minute particles with a fizzing sound, like water from hot metal.
noun
  1. The police, or any law enforcement agency.
noun
  1. Misspelling of fuss.

Pronunciation

fŭz /fʌz/ en-us-fuzz.ogg

Word forms

fuzz fuzzes fuzzing fuzzed

Etymology

Uncertain. Some dictionaries suggest a Germanic source; compare Low German fussig (“loose; spongy”), Dutch voos (“unsound; rotten”). Others, such as Webster's New College Dictionary, suggest a back-formation from fuzzy. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests, “Perhaps imitative of the action of blowing away light particles.”

Derived words

fuzzball fuzzbox fuzz box fuzzer fuzzification fuzzify fuzzless fuzzlike fuzznut fuzznuts fuzztail fuzz test fuzztone fuzzword fuzzy peachfuzz peach fuzz fuzz out fuzz up fuzzable fuzzbuster
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