furthermore (adv.) Look up furthermore at Dictionary.com
c. 1200, from further (adv.) + more. There also was a farthermore in Middle English. Related: Furthermost.
furthest (adj., adv.) Look up furthest at Dictionary.com
late 14c., formed as superlatives to further (adj. and adv.).
furtive (adj.) Look up furtive at Dictionary.com
16c., from Middle French furtif (16c.), from Latin furtivus "stolen," hence also "hidden, secret," from furtum "theft, robbery; a stolen thing," from fur (genitive furis) "a thief, extortioner," also a general term of abuse, "rascal, rogue," probably from PIE *bhor-, from root *bher- (1) "to carry" (see infer). Related: Furtiveness.
furtively (adv.) Look up furtively at Dictionary.com
late 15c.; from furtive + -ly (2).
furuncle (n.) Look up furuncle at Dictionary.com
"a boil, circumscribed inflammation on the skin," 1670s, from Latin furunculus, "a boil, burning sore," also "petty thief, pilferer," diminutive of fur "thief" (see furtive). Related: Furuncular; furunculous.
fury (n.) Look up fury at Dictionary.com
late 14c., "fierce passion," from Old French furie, fuire "rage, frenzy" (14c.), from Latin furia "violent passion, rage, madness," from or related to furere "to rage, be mad," which is of uncertain origin. "Many etymologies have been proposed, but none is clearly the best" [de Vaan]. Romans used Furiæ to translate Greek Erinyes, the collective name for the avenging deities sent from Tartarus to punish criminals (in later accounts three in number and female). Hence, in English, figuratively, "an angry woman" (late 14c.).
furze (n.) Look up furze at Dictionary.com
type of evergreen shrub abundant in English heaths, Old English fyrs "furze, gorse, bramble," a word of unknown origin. Related: Furzy.
fuscous (adj.) Look up fuscous at Dictionary.com
"dark-colored, of brown tinged with gray," 1660s, from Latin fuscus "dark, swarthy, dark-skinned" (see dusk). Earlier as fusc, fusk (1560s).
fuse (v.) Look up fuse at Dictionary.com
1680s, "to melt, make liquid by heat" (transitive), back-formation from fusion. Intransitive sense, "to become liquid," attested from 1800. Figurative sense of "blend different things, blend or unite as if by melting together" is recorded by 1817. Intransitive figurative sense "become intermingled or blended" is by 1873. Related: Fused; fusing.
fuse (n.) Look up fuse at Dictionary.com
"combustible cord or tube for lighting an explosive device," also fuze, 1640s, from Italian fuso, literally "spindle" (the ignition device so called for its shape, because the originals were long, thin tubes filled with gunpowder), from Latin fusus "a spindle," which is of uncertain origin. Influenced by French cognate fusée "spindleful of hemp fiber," and obsolete English fusee "musket fired by a fuse," which is from French. Meaning "device that breaks an electrical circuit" is first recorded 1884, so named for its shape, but erroneously attributed to fuse (v.) because it melts.
fusee (n.) Look up fusee at Dictionary.com
also fuzee, type of light musket, 1660s, from pronunciation of French fusil (see fusilier). As the name of a type of match used in lighting cigars and pipes by 1832, from fusee as a variant of fuse (n.).
fuselage (n.) Look up fuselage at Dictionary.com
1909, from French fuselage, from fuselé "spindle-shaped," from Old French *fus "a spindle," from Latin fusus "a spindle" (see fuse (n.)). So called from its shape.
fusible (adj.) Look up fusible at Dictionary.com
late 14c., from Medieval Latin fusibilis, from Latin fus-, stem of fundere "to pour, melt" (see found (v.2)). Related: Fusibility.
fusiform (adj.) Look up fusiform at Dictionary.com
"spindle-shaped," 1746, from Latin fusus "a spindle" (see fuse (n.)) + -form.
fusil (n.) Look up fusil at Dictionary.com
flintlock musket, 1670s, from French fusil "musket" (see fusilier). Originally in English as distinguished from the matchlock variety.
fusilier (n.) Look up fusilier at Dictionary.com
also fusileer, 1670s, "soldier armed with a musket," from French fusilier "musket" (17c.), literally "piece of steel against which a flint strikes flame," from Old French fuisil, foisil "steel for striking fire; flint; whetstone; grindstone" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *focilis (petra) "(stone) producing fire," from Latin focus "hearth," in Vulgar Latin "fire" (see focus (n.)). Retained by certain regiments of the British army that were formerly armed with fusils.
fusillade (n.) Look up fusillade at Dictionary.com
"simultaneous discharge of firearms," 1801, from French fusillade, from fusiller "to shoot" (18c.), from fusil "musket" (see fusilier). As a verb from 1816.
fusion (n.) Look up fusion at Dictionary.com
1550s, "act of melting by heat," from Middle French fusion or directly from Latin fusionem (nominative fusio) "an outpouring, effusion," noun of action from fusus, past participle of fundere "to pour, melt" (see found (v.2)). Meaning "union or blending of different things; state of being united or blended" is by 1776; used especially in 19c, of politics, in early 20c. of psychology, atoms, and jazz (in nuclear physics sense, first recorded 1947; in musical sense, by 1972).
fuss (n.) Look up fuss at Dictionary.com
"trifling bustle," 1701, originally colloquial, perhaps an alteration of force (n.), or "echoic of the sound of something sputtering or bubbling" [OED], or from Danish fjas "foolery, nonsense." First attested in Anglo-Irish writers, but there are no obvious connections to words in Irish. To make a fuss was earlier to keep a fuss (1726). Fuss and feathers "bustle and display" is from 1848, American English, suggestive of a game cock or a peacock, originally of U.S. Army Gen. Winfield Scott (1786-1866) in the Mexican war.
Gen. Scott is said to be as particular in matters of etiquette and dress as Gen. Taylor is careless. The soldiers call one "Old Rough and Ready," and the other "Old Fuss and Feathers." ["The Mammoth," Nov. 15, 1848].
fuss (v.) Look up fuss at Dictionary.com
1792, from fuss (n.). Related: Fussed; fussing. Extended form fussify is by 1832.
fussbudget (n.) Look up fussbudget at Dictionary.com
"nervous, figety person," 1884, from fuss (n.) + budget (n.). One of several similar formulations around this time: Compare fussbox (1901); fusspot (1906). From 1960s associated with the character Lucy in the newspaper comic strip "Peanuts."
fussy (adj.) Look up fussy at Dictionary.com
1831, from fuss (n.) + -y (2). Related: Fussily; fussiness.
fustian (n.) Look up fustian at Dictionary.com
"thick cotton cloth," c. 1200, from Old French fustaigne, fustagne (12c., Modern French futaine), from Medieval Latin fustaneum, perhaps from Latin fustis "staff, stick of wood; cudgel, club" (see fustigate) as a loan-translation of Greek xylina lina "linens of wood" (i.e. "cotton"). But the Medieval Latin word also is sometimes said to be from Fostat, town near Cairo where this cloth was manufactured. [Klein finds this derivation untenable.] Figurative sense of "pompous, inflated language" recorded by 1590s.
fustigate (v.) Look up fustigate at Dictionary.com
"to cudgel, to beat," 1650s, back-formation from Fustication (1560s) or from Latin fusticatus, past participle of fusticare "to cudgel" (to death), from fustis "cudgel, club, staff, stick of wood," of unknown origin. De Vaan writes that "The most obvious connection would be with Latin -futare" "to beat," but there are evolutionary difficulties.
fusty (adj.) Look up fusty at Dictionary.com
"stale-smelling," late 14c., from French fusté "fusty, tasting of the cask," from Old French fuste, fuist "wine cask," originally "stick, stave, wood" (Modern French fût), from Latin fustis "staff, stick of wood" (see fustigate). Related: Fustiness. Fustilugs was 17c. slang for "a woman of gross or corpulent habit" [OED], later generally in dialect for a big-boned person.
futhorc (n.) Look up futhorc at Dictionary.com
1851, historians' name for the Germanic runic alphabet; so called from its first six letters (th being a single rune), on the model of alphabet.
futile (adj.) Look up futile at Dictionary.com
"incapable of producing result," 1550s, from Middle French futile or directly from Latin futilis, futtilis "vain, worthless, futile," a figurative use, literally "pouring out easily, easily emptied" (the Latin adjective used as a noun meant "a water vessel broad above and pointed below"), hence "leaky, unreliable," from fundere "to pour, melt," from PIE root *gheu- "to pour" (see found (v.2)). Related: Futilely.
futility (n.) Look up futility at Dictionary.com
1620s, from French futilité or directly from Latin futilitatem (nominative futilitas) "worthlessness, emptiness, vanity," from futilis "vain, worthless" (see futile). Hence, jocular futilitarian (1827, n. and adj.); futilitarianism.
futon (n.) Look up futon at Dictionary.com
1876, from Japanese, said to mean "bedroll" or "place to rest."
future (adj.) Look up future at Dictionary.com
late 14c., "that is yet to be; pertaining to a time after the present," from Old French futur "future, to come" (13c.), from Latin futurus "going to be, yet to be," as a noun, "the future," irregular suppletive future participle of esse "to be," from PIE *bheue- (see be). In grammar, of tense, from 1520s.
future (n.) Look up future at Dictionary.com
"future events; time to come," late 14c., modeled on Latin futura, neuter plural of futurus (see future (adj.)).
futures (n.) Look up futures at Dictionary.com
"goods sold on agreement for future delivery," 1880, from future (n.) in a financial sense "speculative purchase or sale of stock or other commodities for future delivery."
futurism (n.) Look up futurism at Dictionary.com
1909 as the name of a movement in arts and literature, from Italian futurismo, coined 1909 by Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944); see future + -ism. Futurist is from 1911 in the arts movement sense; attested from 1842 in a Protestant theological sense ("one who holds that nearly the whole of the Book of Revelations refers principally to events yet to come" - Century Dictionary). As "one who has (positive) feelings about the future" it is attested from 1846 but marked in dictionaries as "rare."
futuristic (adj.) Look up futuristic at Dictionary.com
by 1856 in theology, with reference to prophecy; 1915 as "avant garde, ultra-modern," from futurist (see futurism) + -ic. Meaning "pertaining to the future, predicted to be in the future" is from 1921, from future (n.) + -istic.
futurity (n.) Look up futurity at Dictionary.com
c. 1600, from future + -ity.
futurology (n.) Look up futurology at Dictionary.com
1946 (A. Huxley), from future (n.) + -ology.
futz (v.) Look up futz at Dictionary.com
"loaf, waste time," 1932, American English, perhaps from Yiddish. Related: Futzed; futzing.
fuze (n.) Look up fuze at Dictionary.com
see fuse (n.).
fuzz (n.) Look up fuzz at Dictionary.com
1590s, fusse, first attested in fusball "puff ball of tiny spores," of uncertain origin; perhaps a back-formation from fuzzy, if that word is older than the record of it. Meaning "the police" is American English, 1929, underworld slang; origin, signification, and connection to the older word unknown. Perhaps a variant of fuss, with a notion of "hard to please."
fuzz (v.) Look up fuzz at Dictionary.com
1702, "make fuzzy," from fuzz (n.). Related: Fuzzed; fuzzing. Fuzzword (based on buzzword) "deliberately confusing or imprecise bit of jargon" is a coinage in political writing from 1983.
fuzzy (adj.) Look up fuzzy at Dictionary.com
1610s, "soft, spongy;" a dialectal word of uncertain origin, apparently from fuzz (n.) + -y (2), but perhaps an import from continental Germanic. Compare Low German fussig "weak, loose, spongy," Dutch voos "spongy." From 1713 as "covered with fuzz;" 1778 as "blurred;" and 1937 as "imprecise," with reference to thought, etc. Related: Fuzzily; fuzziness.
fylfot (n.) Look up fylfot at Dictionary.com
supposedly a native name for the swastika (used as a decorative device), but only attested in a single, damaged c. 1500 manuscript, and in that it might rather refer to any sort of device used to fill the bottom (foot) of a design. "[I]t is even possible that it may have been a mere nonce-word" [OED].