fuse

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A cord of readily combustible material that is lighted at one end to carry a flame along its length to detonate an explosive at the other end.
2. n. A mechanical or electrical mechanism used to detonate an explosive charge or device such as a bomb or grenade: "A mechanical . . . switch is used to initiate the fuzes” ( International Defense Review).
3. v. To equip with a mechanical or electrical fuse: "The bomb . . . was fuzed and timed to explode after the aircraft had taken off” ( Aviation Week & Space Technology).
4. v. To liquefy or reduce to a plastic state by heating; melt.
5. v. To mix (constituent elements) together by or as if by melting; blend.
6. v. To become liquefied from heat.
7. v. To become mixed or united by or as if by melting together: "There was no separation between joy and sorrow: they fused into one” ( Henry Miller). See Synonyms at mix.
8. n. A safety device that protects an electric circuit from excessive current, consisting of or containing a metal element that melts when current exceeds a specific amperage, thereby opening the circuit.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To melt; liquefy by heat; render fluid.
2. To blend or unite as if by melting together.
3. Synonyms Dissolve, Thaw, etc. See melt.
4. To amalgamate.
5. To melt; be reduced from a solid to a fluid state by heat.
6. To become intermingled and blended as if melted together.
7. n. A tube, casing, ribbon, etc., of various materials, filled or saturated with a combustible compound, and used as an exploder for firing a blast or for igniting any exploding charge, as of a military shell. A common fuse consists of a rope-like tube filled with some slow-burning composition, as niter, sulphur, and mealed powder, its commonest use being to allow the one who ignites it time to get to a place of safety before the explosion. An electric fuse consists of the explosive substance so arranged as to he fired either by a spark of high-potential electricity formed at a break in an electric circuit (the so-called tension-fuse), or by the incandescence of a fine (for example, platinum) wire which forms part of the circuit through which the current is passed (the so-called quantity-fuse). By extension, devices performing the same function as the common fuse, as mechanical and chemical exploders of all kinds, are termed fuses. The fuses used for exploding projectiles are of four kinds: time, percussion, concussion, and combination. In the first class the time of burning is regulated by cutting the ribbon, composition-filled tube, etc., to the required length; the second is ignited by the impact of the projectile against an object; the third is operated by the shock of discharge; while the combination-fuses combine the principles of the other classes with more or less complexity. See blasting-fuse. Also spelled fuze.
8. n. The track or trail of a buck in the grass. Also fusee.
9. n. In electricity, a piece of conductor, inserted into an electric circuit, which is of less current-carrying capacity than the rest of the circuit, and therefore under excess of current melts and opens the circuit. Fuses are either exposed (that is, open fuses) or protected by an insulating-tube which frequently is filled with some granulated insulating material. These latter are called inclosed or cartridge fuses.

Wiktionary

1. n. A cord that, when lit, conveys the fire to some explosive device.
2. n. manufacturing, mining, military The mechanism that ignites the charge in an explosive device.
3. n. A device to prevent the overloading of an electrical circuit.
4. n. Indicating a tendency to lose one's temper.
5. v. transitive To melt together; to blend; to mix indistinguishably.
6. v. intransitive To melt together.
7. v. To furnish with or install a fuse.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To liquefy by heat; to render fluid; to dissolve; to melt.
2. v. To unite or blend, as if melted together.
3. v. To be reduced from a solid to a fluid state by heat; to be melted; to melt.
4. v. To be blended, as if melted together.
5. n. (Gunnery, Mining, etc.) A tube or casing filled with combustible matter, by means of which a charge of powder is ignited, as in blasting; -- called also fuzee. See fuze.
6. n. (Mil.) a mechanism in a bomb, torpedo, rocket, or artillery shell, usually having an easily detonated explosive charge and activated by the shock of impact, which detonates the main explosive charge. Some fuses may have timing mechanisms, delaying the explosion for a short time, or up to several days after impact. Fuses activated by other mechanisms more sophisticated than impact, such as proximity or heat, are used in modern weapons such as antiaircraft or antimissile missiles.
7. n. (Elec.) A wire, bar, or strip of fusible metal inserted for safety in an electric circuit. When the current increases beyond a certain safe strength, the metal melts, interrupting the circuit and thereby preventing possibility of damage. It serves the same function as a circuit breaker.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. mix together different elements
2. n. any igniter that is used to initiate the burning of a propellant
3. v. equip with a fuse; provide with a fuse
4. v. become plastic or fluid or liquefied from heat
5. n. an electrical device that can interrupt the flow of electrical current when it is overloaded
6. v. make liquid or plastic by heating