Adjacent Words

Fusee definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FUSEE', n. s as z. [L. fusus, a spindle, from fundo, fudi, fusum.]
The cone or conical part of a watch or clock, round which is wound the chain or cord.
FUSEE', n. s as z.
1. A small neat musket or firelock. But we now use fusil.
2. Fusee or fuse of a bomb or granade, a small pipe filled with combustible matter by which fire is communicated to the powder in the bomb; but as the matter burns slowly, time is given before the charge takes fire, for the bomb to reach its destination.
3. The track of a buck.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a spirally grooved spindle in a clock that counteracts the diminishing power of the uncoiling mainspring [syn: fusee drive, fusee]
2: a colored flare used as a warning signal by trucks and trains [syn: fusee, fuzee]
3: a friction match with a large head that will stay alight in the wind [syn: fusee, fuzee]
4: any igniter that is used to initiate the burning of a propellant [syn: fuse, fuze, fusee, fuzee, primer, priming]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: French fusée, literally, spindleful of yarn, from Old French, from fus spindle, from Latin fusus Date: 1622 1. a conical spirally grooved pulley in a timepiece from which a cord or chain unwinds onto a cylinder containing the mainspring and which by its increasing diameter compensates for the lessening power of the spring 2. a red signal flare used especially for protecting stalled trains and trucks

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (US fuzee) 1 a conical pulley or wheel esp. in a watch or clock. 2 a large-headed match for lighting a cigar or pipe in a wind. 3 US a railway signal-flare. Etymology: F fusée spindle ult. f. L fusus

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Fusee Fu*see", n. 1. (Railroads) A signal used principally for the protection of trains, consisting of a tube filled with a composition which burns with a bright colored light for a definite time.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Fusee Fu*see", n. [See 2d Fusil, and cf. Fuse, n.] 1. A flintlock gun. See 2d Fusil. [Obs.] 2. A fuse. See Fuse, n. 3. A kind of match for lighting a pipe or cigar.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Fusee Fu*see", n. [Etymol. uncertain.] The track of a buck. --Ainsworth.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Fusee Fu*see", n. [F. fus['e]e a spindleful, fusee, LL. fusata, fr. fusare to use a spindle, L. fusus spindle.] (a) 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. (b) A similar wheel used in other machinery.