Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A usually cone-shaped pulley with a spiral groove, used in a cord- or chain-winding clock to maintain even travel in the timekeeping mechanism as the force of the mainspring lessens in unwinding.
- noun A colored flare used as a warning signal for trucks and railroad trains.
- noun A match with a large head capable of burning in a wind.
- noun A combustible fuse for detonating explosives.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Same as
fusil . - noun Same as
fuse . - noun A kind of match for lighting a pipe, cigar, and the like.
- noun See
fuse . - noun A spindle-shaped figure.
- noun A cone or solid conical piece in a watch or a spring-clock on which is wound a chain or cord, attached at one end to its widest part and at the other to the barrel containing the mainspring, the action of which unwinds it, transferring it to the barrel.
- noun In farriery, a kind of splint applied to the leg of a horse.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The track of a buck.
- noun obsolete A flintlock gun. See 2d
fusil . - noun A fuse. See
Fuse , n. - noun A friction match for smokers' use having a bulbous head which when ignited is not easily blown out even in a gale of wind.
- noun A kind of match made of paper impregnated with niter and having the usual igniting tip.
- noun A signal device, usually cylindrical, consisting of a tube filled with a composition which burns with a bright colored light for a definite time. It is used principally for the protection of trains or road vehicles, indicating an obstruction or accident ahead. Also called a
flare orrailroad flare . - noun The cone or conical wheel of a watch or clock, designed to equalize the power of the mainspring by having the chain from the barrel which contains the spring wind in a spiral groove on the surface of the cone in such a manner that the diameter of the cone at the point where the chain acts may correspond with the degree of tension of the spring.
- noun A similar wheel used in other machinery.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
conical ,grooved pulley in earlyclocks . - noun A large friction match.
- noun A
fuse for anexplosive . - noun US A colored
flare used as awarning on therailroad
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a spirally grooved spindle in a clock that counteracts the diminishing power of the uncoiling mainspring
- noun a friction match with a large head that will stay alight in the wind
- noun a colored flare used as a warning signal by trucks and trains
- noun any igniter that is used to initiate the burning of a propellant
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word fusee.
Examples
-
The use of such a fusee is in every way superior to the method of producing ignition by platinum wire, which involves a great waste of electric power.
Experiments with the American Torpedo-Shells at Chatham 1865
-
Indiana Harbor Belt RR switchman, demonstrating signal with a 'fusee' -
-
[54] The fusee was a fire-lock musket with an immense bore, from which either slugs or balls could be shot, although not with any great degree of accuracy.
The old Santa Fe trail The Story of a Great Highway Henry Inman 1868
-
His gun was not loaded, nor did he wear either shot-bag or powder-horn; and his weapon, an ancient Highland Scotch "fusee" changed to percussion, seemed as worn out and dilapidated as the owner.
Adrift in the Ice-Fields Charles W. Hall
-
The explosion was caused by a kind of fusee held in the hand which the people could not see, and taking it for a miracle they paid all that was demanded.
The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume II R. V. Russell
-
"Well, a fusee was a short cone having a spiral groove round it, with a cord or chain wound to the groove and fastened at the big end of the cone.
Christopher and the Clockmakers Sara Ware Bassett 1920
-
Words are celebrated in vocabularic feats -- Page 117 alone delights a word-lover with "syzygy," "invigilator" and "fusee."
-
The officers to be armed with a sword or hanger, a fusee, bayonet and belt, with a cartridge box to contain twelve cartridges; and each private of matoss shall furnish themselves with good horses of at least fourteen hands and an half high, and to be armed with a sword and pair of pistols, the holsters of which to be covered with bearskin caps.
-
This chain is connected to a second cylinder, at the upper left, made up of one part of a fusee (placed horizontally as opposed to the traditional fusees that are always vertical), and the other of the cylindrical power reserve indicator (a total of 72 hours).
Boing Boing: January 22, 2006 - January 28, 2006 Archives 2006
-
He denied that he had given orders to fire; he denied he had fired with his own hand; he even produced the fusee which he carried as an officer for examination; it was found still loaded.
knitandpurl commented on the word fusee
"I was there close by him, by the four of them as they assembled the fusee chain, or four fusee chains."
The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey, p 141 of the Knopf hardcover edition
June 6, 2012