fuzz

¹ American  

[fuhz] / fʌz /

noun

1. loose, light, fibrous, or fluffy matter.

2. a mass or coating of such matter.

   the fuzz on a peach.

3. Slang. a man's very short haircut, similar to a crew cut.

4. a blur.

   That photo is all fuzz.

5. a distorted sound from an electric musical instrument, especially a guitar, produced by means of an electronic device.

---

verb (used with or without object)

1. to make or become blurred or unclear (sometimes followed by up orout ).

   He fuzzed up the plot line with a lot of emotional nonsense. The image fuzzed and then disappeared.

fuzz ² American  

[fuhz] / fʌz /

noun

Older Slang.

plural

fuzz, fuzzes

1. Usually the fuzz the police; police officers collectively.

   The fuzz were called by a neighbor and three policeman showed up.

2. a police officer or detective.

   Fuzzes caught the burglar trying to escape through the back alley.

---

fuzz ¹ British  

/ fʌz /

noun

1. a mass or covering of fine or curly hairs, fibres, etc

2. a blur

---

verb

1. to make or become fuzzy

2. to make or become indistinct; blur

fuzz ² British  

/ fʌz /

noun

1. a slang word for police policeman

---

Etymology

Origin of fuzz¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; origin uncertain; perhaps a back formation from fuzzy ( def. ); compare Dutch voos “spongy, woolly”

Origin of fuzz²

An Americanism dating back to 1920–25; of uncertain origin

Example Sentences

The instrument also paved the way to an aesthetics of electricity—feedback, distortion, fuzz, sheer volume—that led to such genres as heavy metal, punk, grunge and shoegaze.

From The Wall Street Journal

A nose peeked out—a tiny pink nose—and then two slanted-closed eyes, a forehead covered in downy fuzz, little ears still curled tight against its head.

From Literature

The first thing she did after she got up was go to work on Howard’s head to try and get the purple off, and she discovered two or three patches of soft fuzz.

From Literature

I start picking this fuzz on my jeans.

From Literature

Removing graduation years from the education section of your résumé is another way to fuzz up your career length.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• lint