fuss
English
Etymology
Of unknown origin. Perhaps from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Danish fjas (“nonsense”)[1], from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle Low German (compare German faseln (“to maunder, talk nonsense”))
Pronunciation
Noun
fuss (countable and uncountable, plural fusses)
- (countable or uncountable) Excessive activity, worry, bother, or talk about something.
- They made a big fuss about the wedding plans.
- What's all the fuss about?
- (Can we date this quote by Thomas Carlyle and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- zealously, assiduously, and with a minimum of fuss or noise
- 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court:
- “Anthea hasn't a notion in her head but to vamp a lot of silly mugwumps. She's set her heart on that tennis bloke […] whom the papers are making such a fuss about.”
- 2018 January 25, Amelia Gentleman, “Men-only clubs and menace: how the establishment maintains male power”, in the Guardian[1]:
- But in the reader comments section beneath the FT piece, many couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. “I’m surprised to see the FT reporting this sort of thing,” one person wrote.
- A complaint or noise; a scene.
- If you make enough of a fuss about the problem, maybe they'll fix it for you.
- An exhibition of affection or admiration.
- They made a great fuss over the new baby.
Translations
excessive activity, worry, bother, or talk about something
a complaint or noise
|
an exhibition of affection or admiration
Verb
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- (intransitive) To be very worried or excited about something, often too much.
- His grandmother will never quit fussing over his vegetarianism.
- (intransitive) To fiddle; fidget; wiggle, or adjust
- Quit fussing with your hair. It looks fine.
- (intransitive, especially of babies) To cry or be ill-humoured.
- (intransitive, with over) To show affection for, especially animals.
- (transitive) To pet.
- He fussed the cat.
Usage notes
Translations
to be very worried or excited about something, often too much
|
to fiddle; fidget; wiggle, or adjust; to worry something
|
to show affection for
|
to pet
Derived terms
References
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “fuss”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Danish
- English terms derived from Middle Low German
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ʌs
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- Requests for date/Thomas Carlyle
- English terms with quotations
- English intransitive verbs
- English transitive verbs