different between fuzz vs achene

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: f?z, IPA^(key): /f?z/
• Rhymes: -?z

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

fuzz (countable and uncountable, plural fuzzes)

1. A frizzy mass of hair or fibre.
   • 1895, Hamlin Garland, Rose of Dutcher's Coolly, page 352:

     His cheeks were like peaches, with much the same sort of fuzz over them.

2. Quality of an image that is unclear; a blurred image.
3. (computing) The random data used in fuzz testing.
4. A distorted sound, especially from an electric guitar or other amplified instrument.
5. A state of befuddlement.
   • 1784, Jonathan Swift, "Journal to Stella", The works of the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Swift, page 54:

     I think I'm in a fuzz, and don't know what I ?ay, I never ?aw the like.

Translations

Verb

fuzz (third-person singular simple present fuzzes, present participle fuzzing, simple past and past participle fuzzed)

1. (transitive) To make fuzzy.
2. (intransitive) To become fuzzy.
3. (transitive, dated) To make drunk.
4. (computing) To test a software component by running it on randomly generated input.
   • 2012, Charlie Miller, Dion Blazakis, Dino DaiZovi, iOS Hacker's Handbook (page 172)

     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.

5. (intransitive, dated) To fly off in minute particles with a fizzing sound, like water from hot metal.

References

• "fuzz, n.¹" Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
• “fuzz¹”, in Webster's II New College Dictionary, 2005, ?ISBN

Etymology 2

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

Noun

fuzz (uncountable)

1. (US, slang, with "the") The police.
   • 2009, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, 0:26:17:

     Let's get the hell out of here before the fuzz turns up

Translations

References

• Godfrey Irwin. 1930. American Tramp and Underworld Slang, New York, Sears. ?OCLC

Spanish

Noun

fuzz m (uncountable)

1. fuzz

English

Alternative forms

• achaenium, achenium, achenocarp
• (alternative spelling) akene

Etymology

From French akène and its source, Latin achena, from Ancient Greek ?- (a-, “a-”) + ????? (khaín?, “to gape”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??ki?n/

Noun

achene (plural achenes)

1. (botany) A small, dry, indehiscent fruit, containing a single seed, as in the buttercup.

Usage notes

Early botanists referred to achenes as naked seeds.

Derived terms

• polyachene

Translations

Further reading

• achene in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• achene at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Cheena