fuselage
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of fuselage
1905–10; < French, equivalent to fusel ( é ) spindle-shaped (derivative of fuseau spindle; see fusee) + -age -age
Explanation
The main part of an airplane — the part in which you sit as a passenger — is called the fuselage. Your luggage rides in the fuselage, too. The word fuselage comes from the Latin fusus, or "spindle," which describes the tube shape of the central part of an airplane. Wings, tails, engines — these are all extra parts of the plane that attach to the fuselage. Different kinds of airplanes have different types of fuselages, depending on how fast they need to travel and what they carry, but a fuselage is always hollow and always has a cockpit at the front.
Vocabulary lists containing fuselage
Flying High: Aviation Words
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A Spelling Bee for Fun
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Hatchet
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But due to production delays at the Spirit Fuselage facility in Wichita, Kansas, combined with Boeing repair and delivery delays in Seattle, it now expects to receive only 14 aircraft during the three-month period.
From Reuters • Sep. 28, 2023
Fuselage, old style; landing chassis on three wheels only, with a single ash skid in front.
From Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1913 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
