fuzz

Etymology 1

Uncertain. Some dictionaries suggest a Germanic source; compare Low German fussig (“loose; spongy”), Dutch voos (“unsound; rotten”). Others, such as Webster's New College Dictionary, suggest a back-formation from fuzzy. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests, “Perhaps imitative of the action of blowing away light particles.”

noun

1. A frizzy mass of hair or fibre.
   His cheeks were like peaches, with much the same sort of fuzz over them. 1895, Hamlin Garland, Rose of Dutcher's Coolly, page 352
2. Quality of an image that is unclear; a blurred image.
   ...scientific advances happen more often at the frontier of representation, at the edge of resolution where an image dissolves into fuzz and blur. 2010, Iain Boyd Whyte, Beyond the Finite: The Sublime in Art and Science, New York: Oxford University Press
3. (computing) The random data used in fuzz testing.
   "Fuzz testing" or "fuzzing" is a technique for software testing that provides random data ("fuzz") to the inputs of a program. 2008, Asoke Talukder, Manish Chaitanya, Architecting Secure Software Systems, Boca Raton: CRC Press, page 94
4. A distorted sound, especially from an electric guitar or other amplified instrument.
   This gives a good soft clipping effect and a good fuzz sound. 1994, R.A. Penfold, Music Projects, Boston: New Tech, page 33
5. A state of befuddlement.
   I think I'm in a fuzz, and don't know what I ſay, I never ſaw the like. 1784, Jonathan Swift, “Journal to Stella”, in The works of the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Swift, page 54
   So I'm in a fuzz of not knowing what to do February 10, 2016, Ally, “Signs of an Online Dating Scam”, in Christie Hartman Ph.D., archived from the original on 2016-10-26, Comments

verb

1. (transitive) To make fuzzy.
2. (intransitive) To become fuzzy.
3. (transitive, dated) To make drunk.
   Or maybe my mind was just fuzzed with the drink. 2004, Quintin Jardine, Alarm Call, London: Headline
4. (computing) To test a software component by running it on randomly generated input.
   Sulley works by fuzzing the first fuzzable field to be fuzzed. While it is iterating through all the values it wants to try for that field, all the other fields are untouched and remain at their default value. 2012, Charlie Miller, Dion Blazakis, Dino DaiZovi, iOS Hacker's Handbook, page 172
5. (intransitive, dated) To fly off in minute particles with a fizzing sound, like water from hot metal.

Etymology 2

Unknown. Godfrey Irwin (1930) suggests a possible connection to fuss, "over-particular", excessive bother.

noun

1. (US, slang, with "the") The police, or any law enforcement agency.
   Let's get the hell out of here before the fuzz turns up 2009, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, 0:26:17

Etymology 3

noun

1. Misspelling of fuss.