/fuss/

 

/fuss/

 

Noun.

 

-) Pronunciation: fʌs. 

 

-) Etymology: of uncertain origin.

 

-) It is dated from the beginning of 1700.

1. A ridiculous or excessive bustle; ostentatious or needless activity of one or more persons (or other animals). Particularly: excessive manifestation of concern about a trifle.

-) Translation: scandale, in French; escándalo, in Spanish; scenata, in Italian.

[…] without any fuss or scandal, no one knowing a word about the matter.

Ellen Pickering… The Squire 1837

"Gracey, dear," cried her eldest brother, running into the room where she was busy, "what's all this fuss about; what have you been saying to my father to make him come and lecture me about behaviour”

Catherine Hubback… May and December 1854

It is just that you may have all the fun and fuss of a wedding, as you call it, that I propose London shall be the place for its celebration.

Clara Cameron… Lights and shadows… 1855

We shall only stay in Cuba till the fuss about my running away is all over, and people have forgotten, don't you know.

Elizabeth Braddon… Phantom Fortune 1883

In the stillness he could hear the deer belling again in the distance, and then came a fuss of monkeys in a group of trees near at hand.

Herbert Wells… The Research Magnificent 1915

-) To make a fuss about; to make a fuss of or over: to manifest excessive concern about (of, over) a trifle. Hence: to treat with an excessive manifestation of affection. 

Gentle reader, if you ever observe any one make a fuss of reprobation concerning puffing, depend upon it, and receive it as an indisputable truth, that the said reprobator of puffing is mightily addicted to prosing, or to canting.

The Pocket magazine… 1832

Of course, I knew it was wrong, but it did no harm to me, which was one good reason for not making a fuss about it.

Wilkie Collins… The Woman in White 1859

I am not a demonstrative man, and I have never made any great fuss about my love for my daughter; but I do love her, nevertheless.

Elizabeth Braddon… Henry Dunbar 1864

What a fuss we have made about a stupid old carriage!

Anthony Trollope… Can You Forgive Her? 1864

I have no patience with them; they make such a fuss of a trifle.

R. D. Blackmore… The Maid of Sker 1872

He would have imagined that a woman would like to be made a fuss of, petted, looked after; to be allowed to lie prone upon a couch, emitting little moans of discomfort to attract sympathy.

Ernest Thurston… Sally Bishop 1912

[…] but one night a miner, who had been drinking quite freely, lost about a pound of dust, and was fool enough to make a fuss about it. I was suspected of stealing it; and although I pledged my word that I knew nothing of the matter, yet the gold was found in my pocket, and I was obliged to share with the police in order to get clear.

William Thomes… The gold hunters’ adventures 1864

2. A state of anxiety over a trifle.

 

When I got to Mr. Palmer's, I found Charlotte quite in a fuss about the child. She was sure it was very ill—it cried, and fretted, and was all over pimples. So, I looked at it directly, and, 'Lord! my dear,' says I, 'it is nothing in the world, but the red gum—' and nurse said just the same.

Jane Austen… Sense and Sensibility 1811

We had not sat here many minutes, when Mrs. Markleham, who usually contrived to be in a fuss about something, came bustling in, with her newspaper in her hand, and said, out of breath, “My goodness gracious, Annie, why didn’t you tell me there was some one in the Study!”

 

Charles Dickens… David Copperfield… 1850

3. One who fusses; a fussy person.

-) Words derived from the noun FUSS: fuss (verb), fussy, fussed, fussing, fussation, fusser, fussify, fussification, fussily, fussiness, fussy.