fuse

noun

/fjuːz/

Idioms

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a small wire or device inside a piece of electrical equipment that breaks and stops the current if the flow of electricity is too strong
- to change a fuse
- Check whether a fuse has blown.
Extra Examples
- Make sure that the correct fuse is fitted.
- When the machine was switched on it blew a fuse.
Topics Engineeringc2
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- 5-amp
- 10-amp
- 13-amp
- …
verb + fuse
- change
- replace
- blow
- …
fuse + verb
- blow
fuse + noun
- wire
- box
See full entry
(North American English also fuze)
a long piece of string or paper that is lit to make a bomb or a firework explode
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- short
- long
- slow
- …
verb + fuse
- set
- light
See full entry
(North American English also fuze)
a device that makes a bomb explode when it hits something or at a particular time
- He set the fuse to three minutes.
- The bombs inside were on a one-hour fuse.
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- short
- long
- slow
- …
verb + fuse
- set
- light
See full entry

Word Originnoun sense 1 late 16th cent.: from Latin fus- ‘poured, melted’, from the verb fundere. noun senses 2 to 3 mid 17th cent.: from Italian fuso, from Latin fusus ‘spindle’.

Idioms

blow a fuse

(informal) to get very angryTopics Feelingsc2

have/be on a short fuse

to tend to get angry quickly and easily

fuse

verb

/fjuːz/

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they fuse	/fjuːz/ /fjuːz/
he / she / it fuses	/ˈfjuːzɪz/ /ˈfjuːzɪz/
past simple fused	/fjuːzd/ /fjuːzd/
past participle fused	/fjuːzd/ /fjuːzd/
-ing form fusing	/ˈfjuːzɪŋ/ /ˈfjuːzɪŋ/

jump to other results

[intransitive, transitive] (formal or specialist) when one thing fuses with another, or two things fuse or are fused, they are joined together to form a single thing
- fuse (together) As they heal, the bones will fuse together.
- fuse (into something) Our different ideas fused into a plan.
- Their lips fused in a passionate kiss.
- fuse with something The sperm fuses with the egg to begin the process of fertilization.
- fuse something (into something) The two companies have been fused into a single organization.
- Atoms of hydrogen are fused to make helium.
[intransitive, transitive] fuse (something) (to something) (specialist) when a substance, especially metal, fuses, or you fuse it, it is heated until it melts and joins with something else
[intransitive, transitive] fuse (something) (British English) to stop working or to make something stop working because a fuse melts
- The lights have fused.
- I've fused the lights.
[transitive, usually passive] to put a fuse in a circuit or in a piece of equipment
- be fused Is this plug fused?

Word Originverb late 16th cent.: from Latin fus- ‘poured, melted’, from the verb fundere.