FUZE

This article appears in Volume V11, Page 375 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: FRA-GAE

FUZE or FusE, an appliance for firing explosives in

blasting

BLASTING

operations, military shells, &c. (see

BLASTING

BLASTING

and AMMUNITION, Shell). The spelling is not governed by authority, but modern convenience has dictated the adoption of the " z " by military engineers as a general

rule

RULE

, in order to distinguish this sense from that of melting by heat (see below). The word, according to the New English Dictionary, is one of the forms in which the Lat. fusus, spindle, has been adapted through Romanic into English, the

ordinary

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

fuze taking the shape of a spindle-like tube. Similarly the term "fusee" (Fr. fusee, spindle full of tow,

Late

LATE

Lat. fusata) is applied to a coned spindle sometimes used in the wheel

train

TRAIN (M. Eng. trayn or trayne, derived through Fr. from Late Lat. trahinare, to drag, draw, Lat. trahere, cf. trail, trace, ultimately from the same source)

of watches and

spring

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

clocks to equalize the action of the mainspring (see WATCH); and the application of the same term to a

special

SPECIAL

kind of match may also be due to its resemblance to a spindle. Again, in heraldry, another form, " fusil," derived through the French from a

Late

LATE

Lat. diminutive (fusillus or fusellus) of this same fuses, is used of a bearing, an elongated

lozenge

LOZENGE (from the Fr. losenge, or losange; the word also appears in Span. losanje, and Ital. losanga; perhaps derived from a word meaning a stone slab laid on a grave, which appears in forms such as Provencal lousa, Span. losa, the ultimate origin of whic

. According to other etymological authorities, however (see Skeat, Etym. Dict., 1898), " fuze " or " fuse," and " fusee " in the sense of match, are all forms derived through the Fr. fusil, from Late Lat. focile, steel for striking fire from a flint, from Lat.

focus

FOCUS (Latin for " hearth " or " fireplace ")

, hearth. The Fr. fusil and English " fusil " were thus transferred to the " firelock," i.e. the light

musket

MUSKET (Fr. mousquet, Ger. Muskete, &c.)

of the 17th century (see FUSILIER).
In electrical engineering a " fuse " (always so spelled) is a safety device, commonly consisting of a strip or wire of easily fusible metal, which melts and thus interrupts the circuit of which it forms part, whenever that circuit, through some accident or derangement, is caused to carry a current larger than that for Which it is intended. In this sense the word must be connected with fusus, the past participle of Lat. fundere, to pour, whence comes the verb " fuse," to melt by heat, often used figuratively in the sense of blend, mix.

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