fussinesses

I will say that new ships are cranky and unsteady, that old and seasoned ships have their little crotchets, their little fussinesses that their skippers must learn and humor if they are to get anything out of them, that even the best ships may sulk at times, shirk their work, grow unstable, perverse, and refuse to answer helm and handling.

The Ship That Saw a Ghost 1996

The designer of frostings who has a right feeling for his art will not emulate the sculptor and strive to model in the grand style; the sculptor who tries to reproduce imitatively the textures of lace or other fabrics and who exuberates in filigrees and fussinesses so far departs from his art as to rival the confectioner.

The Gate of Appreciation Studies in the Relation of Art to Life Carleton Eldredge Noyes 1911

They were just silly, ordinary fussinesses; they had no sense in them.

The Old Wives' Tale Arnold Bennett 1899

A society actress don't go around more publicly than what a ship does, nor is more interviewed, nor more humbugged, nor more run after by all sorts of little fussinesses in brass buttons.

The Wrecker 1898

I will say that new ships are cranky and unsteady; that old and seasoned ships have their little crochets, their little fussinesses that their skippers must learn and humour if they are to get anything out of them; that even the best ships may sulk at times, shirk their work, grow unstable, perverse, and refuse to answer helm and handling.

A Deal in Wheat and Other Stories of the New and Old West Frank Norris 1886