Also 7 fus(s)ie, fusey, phusee, 8 fusy. [a. F. fusée, primarily, spindleful of tow (:—med.L. fūsata, f. L. fūsus spindle); hence used for spindle, and in senses 2–4 below. Sense 5 is an Eng. development from 3.]
† 1. A spindle-shaped figure: = FUSIL1 1. Obs.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie (Arb.), 105. The Fuzie or spindle, called Romboides.
2. A conical pulley or wheel, esp. the wheel of a watch or clock upon which the chain is wound and by which the power of the mainspring is equalized.
1622. in Naworth Househ. Bks., 199. Making a fussie to my Lords cloke.
1658. S. Crooke, Div. Char., I. ix. 82. This is the first wheele, yea, the Phusee, the inward spring that moves his watch so swiftly.
1677. Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, I. ii. 50. In the Watch … the reason of the motion of the Ballance is by the motion of the next Wheel, and that by the motion of the next, and that by the motion of the Fusee.
1713. Lond. Gaz., No. 5155/4. A Gold Watch … going with a Spring, without Fusey, Chain or String.
c. 1790. Imison, Elements of Science and Art, II. 284. From the fusy to the balance the wheels drive the pinions.
1824. R. Stuart, Hist. Steam Engine, 146. Chains acting on a spiral in the manner of a fusee … are also proposed as modes of equalizing the rise and fall of the piston.
1827. Faraday, Chem. Manip., iv. 112. The mouth at this time represents the going fuzee of a chronometer.
1884. F. J. Britten, The Watch and Clockmakers’ Handbook, 108. In modern watches and clocks the fusee is furnished with maintaining power to drive the train while the fusee is being turned backwards during the process of winding.
3. = FUSE sb.2 1.
1704. Lond. Gaz., No. 4062/7. The Enemy … set Fire to great quantities of Powder, with Intent to spring their Mines; which … was prevented from taking Effect, by cutting off the Fusees.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Secret d’un brulot, that part of the train of a fire-ship where the match or fusee is laid.
1809. Naval Chron., XXII. 287. Strong iron cones, containing from 5 to 12lbs. of powder, to burst by fuzees.
1858. Greener, Gunnery, 139. The aperture [of the shell] is securely screwed up; fusees not being necessary in this arrangement.
4. Farriery. An exostosis upon one of the cannon-bones.
1720. Gibson, Farrier’s Guide, II. lxxviii. (1738), 233. Sometimes a double Splent is formed which is called by the French a Fuzee.
1727. Bailey, vol. II., Fuzee [in Horses] two dangerous Splents, joining above and downwards.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v. Commonly a fuzee rises to the knee and lames the horse. Fuzees differ from screws or thorough splents in this, that the latter are placed on the two opposite sides of the leg.
¶ Some modern Dicts., by an obvious misapprehension, define it as ‘a kind of splint applied to the legs of horses.’
5. A kind of match with a large head of combustible material tipped with brimstone for ignition by friction; a lucifer, vesuvian.
1832. Specif. Jones’ Patent, No. 6335. 2. Fuzees for the purpose of lighting cigars, pipes, etc.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 433. The ‘fuzees,’ as I most frequently heard them called … are chiefly German made.
1888. Rider Haggard, Col. Quaritch, II. x. 169. It was one of those flaming fusees, and burnt with a blue light.
6. attrib. and Comb., as fusee-maker, -wheel. Also fusee-engine, -machine, a machine for cutting fusees for watches; fusee-piece, -sink, -snail, -windlass (see quots.).
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Fusee-engine, a clock-maker’s machine for cutting and shaping fusees.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 930/1. *Fusee-machine. A machine … for cutting the snail-shaped or spirally grooved wheel on which the chains of certain descriptions of watches are wound.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Fuzee-maker, a manufacturer of parts of watch-work.
1884. F. J. Britten, The Watch and Clockmakers’ Handbook, 110. *Fusee Piece…. The circular plug screwed to the top plate in which the upper pivot of the fusee works. Ibid., *Fusee Sink…. The sink cut in the top plate of a watch to give space for the fusee. Ibid., 247. The *fusee snail, a projecting nose on the end of the fusee.
1838. Penny Cycl., XII. 303 (art. Horology). The spring … gives motion to the fusee, and with it the *fusee-wheel and the rest of the train.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 930/1. *Fusee-windlass. A pump-windlass with a conical barrel.
