fuzz

Meanings

Noun

• A frizzy mass of hair or fibre.
• Quality of an image that is unclear; a blurred image.
• The random data used in fuzz testing.
• A distorted sound, especially from an electric guitar or other amplified instrument.
• A state of befuddlement.
• The police.
• Misspelling of fuss

Verb

• To make fuzzy.
• To become fuzzy.
• To make drunk.
• To test a software component by running it on randomly generated input.
• To fly off in minute particles with a fizzing sound, like water from hot metal.

Origin

• Uncertain. Some dictionaries suggest a Germanic source; compare Low German fussig, Dutch voos. Others, such as Webster's New College Dictionary, suggest a . 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.