fuzz
/fʌz/ noun, verb
Forms fuzzes fuzzing fuzzed
- noun A frizzy mass of hair or fibre.
- noun Quality of an image that is unclear; a blurred image.
- noun (computing) The random data used in fuzz testing.
- noun A distorted sound, especially from an electric guitar or other amplified instrument.
- noun A state of befuddlement.
- noun Fuzziness, vagueness.
- verb (transitive) To make fuzzy.
- verb (intransitive) To become fuzzy.
- verb (transitive, dated) To make drunk.
- verb (computing) To test a software component by running it on randomly generated input.
- verb (intransitive, dated) To fly off in minute particles with a fizzing sound, like water from hot metal.
- noun (US, slang, with "the") The police, or any law enforcement agency.
Synonyms
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.”
Unknown. Godfrey Irwin (1930) suggests a possible connection to fuss, "over-particular", excessive bother.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To make drunk. [Obs.] Wood.
- noun Fine, light particles or fibers; loose, volatile matter. Fuzz ball, a kind of fungus or mushroom, which, when pressed, bursts and scatters a fine dust; a puffball.
- verb To fly off in minute particles.
Etymology [Cf. Prov. E. fuzzy that ravels (of silk or cotton), D. voos spongy, fungous, G. faser filament. E. feaze to untwist.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fuzz”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details