fuzz

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) A frizzy mass of hair or fibre.
2. (countable, uncountable) Quality of an image that is unclear; a blurred image.
3. (countable, uncountable) The random data used in fuzz testing.
4. (countable, uncountable) A distorted sound, especially from an electric guitar or other amplified instrument.
5. (countable, uncountable) A state of befuddlement.
6. (countable, uncountable) Fuzziness, vagueness.

Verb

1. (transitive) To make fuzzy.
2. (intransitive) To become fuzzy.
3. (dated, transitive) To make drunk.
4. To test a software component by running it on randomly generated input.
5. (dated, intransitive) To fly off in minute particles with a fizzing sound, like water from hot metal.

Synonyms

fluff

down

lint

cop

👮

hair

blur

copper

pig

🐖

tomentum

pile

bull

nap

fine hair

soft hair

lanugo

police

👮

shag

skin

pilus

policy

solf and thick

blurriness

bobby

bristle

eiderdown

filth

floss

font

fur

heat

law

military police

mop

prickle

pubescence

roughness

Translations

duvet

Flaum

polizia

peluria

Härchen

χνούδι

vello

piedipiatti

👮

capelli crespi

pula

flic

👮

Fussel

fusseln

Haar

αστυνομία

Pronounced as (IPA)

/fʌz/

Etymology

Cognate with Low German: fussig

Cognate with Dutch: voos

In summary

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.”