fuse

fuse¹ [fju:z] n

[Sense: 1; Date: 1800-1900; Origin: FUSE²]

[Sense: 2,3; Date: 1600-1700; : Italian; Origin: fuso 'spindle (= long thin part which turns around)', from Latin fusus]

1.) a short thin piece of wire inside electrical equipment which prevents damage by melting and stopping the electricity when there is too much power

▪ two 13 amp fuses

▪ I taught him how to change a fuse .

blow a fuse

(=make it melt by putting too much electricity through it)

2.) also fuze AmE

a thing that delays a bomb, ↑firework etc from exploding until you are a safe distance away, or makes it explode at a particular time

3.) a short fuse

if someone has a short fuse, they get angry very easily

→blow a fuse at ↑blow¹ (16)

fuse ²

fuse² v [I and T]

[Date: 1500-1600; : Latin; Origin: fusus, past participle of fundere 'to pour, melt']

1.) to join together physically, or to make things join together, and become a single thing

fuse (sth) together

▪ The egg and sperm fuse together as one cell.

2.) to combine different qualities, ideas, or things, or to be combined

= ↑merge

▪ Their music fuses elements as diverse as Cajun, bebop and Cuban waltzes.

fuse (sth) with sth

▪ Leonard takes Carver-style dirty realism and fuses it with the pace of a detective story.

fuse (sth) into sth

▪ We intend to fuse the companies into a single organization.

3.) BrE if electrical equipment fuses, or if you fuse it, it stops working because a fuse has melted

▪ The lights have fused again.

4.) technical if a rock or metal fuses, or if ,you fuse it, it becomes liquid by being heated

▪ Lead fuses at quite a low temperature.

→↑fusion