Very simple - a fuzee is a match! The word is French, pronounced 'fewzay'
and means 'fuse'. It could be taken to mean several related things in the
19th century, usually military, as 'matches' were also delayed firing
mechanisms for guns (often referred to at the time as fuzees).
In mining parlance a fuzee referred to the fuse used in blasting, but this
is a term only found in books and as miners were not generally known for
their lingistic skills, they can be excused for anglicising the word!
Incidentally, the delayed shutter on a camera is also sometimes called a
fuzee.
One question - all of us like reading lurid stories in newspapers. What I
want to know is - what happened next?!
Mike Syer wrote:
> A few weeks ago, there was some discussion about what a "fuzee" was. I
> don't recall how exactly that concluded, but I thought some might be
> interested in a reference I found last night.
>
> Two miners were walking the four miles home from Durham (which they had
> reached at about 12 midnight having come from the Newcaslte pantomime -
> intersting in itself, I thought), when they were witnesses to a violent
> and suspicious death.
>
> One of them told the post mortem enquiry, "On getting to the finger post
> on the other side of Cassop Moor House, I pulled my pipe out to light
> it, and O'Neil pulled his watch out to see what time it was. On striking
> a fuzee we found it was exactly half-past one in the morning." (Durham
> Chronicle 2nd March 1877)
>
> I don't know if that throws any light on the subject ; - )
>
> Mike Syer
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