fusee

fusee — noun

1. a small stick that burns with a bright red flame, placed on a road or railway to

1.nounC1
Definition

a small stick that burns with a bright red flame, placed on a road or railway to warn drivers about a stopped truck or broken-down train.

Example

Christopher set out three fusees behind his broken-down truck on the dark highway.

set out [N] fusees behind [vehicle]

The freight train conductor lit a fusee to warn approaching trains about the stalled cars.

light a fusee to warn [target]

Common collocations
  • light a fusee
  • set out a fusee
  • burning fusee
  • red fusee
  • highway fusee
Synonyms
  • flare

    broader category; a fusee is one specific type of road or rail flare

  • warning flare

    everyday paraphrase; used in driver-education materials

Grammar Patterns

set out a fusee

light a fusee

Usage Note

Subject is usually a train crew member, truck driver, or roadside worker; the object position commonly takes a measured count (one, two, three fusees) showing how many were placed.

Common Mistakes

I waved a fusee to stop the car.
I set out a fusee behind my car to warn other drivers.
a fusee is placed on the ground to burn, not held or waved like a torch.

2. a cone-shaped wheel inside an old mechanical clock or watch that helps keep the

2.nounC2
Definition

a cone-shaped wheel inside an old mechanical clock or watch that helps keep the timepiece running at a steady speed as the spring slowly loses its tension.

Example

Takeshi carefully removed the tiny fusee from the antique pocket watch on his workbench.

remove the fusee from [timepiece]

The fusee inside the old marine chronometer kept the ship's clock accurate during long ocean voyages.

the fusee inside [timepiece] kept [it] accurate

Common collocations
  • fusee chain
  • working fusee
  • wind the fusee
  • fusee cone
  • fusee movement
Synonyms
  • fusee cone

    fuller technical name used in horology texts

  • conical pulley

    descriptive paraphrase; broader and less specific to clocks

Grammar Patterns

wind the fusee

the fusee chain

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 1: this sense names a mechanical part inside a clock, never something that burns. Found mostly in horology and antique-watch contexts; pair with words like 'chain', 'mainspring', 'movement'.

Common Mistakes

The fusee burned brightly on the table.
The fusee turned slowly inside the antique clock.
a clock fusee is a metal pulley, not a flare; it cannot burn or be lit.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

A 'flare' is the broadest term — any bright burning light used to signal, including military, marine, and emergency types. A 'signal flare' narrows the meaning to anything fired or lit specifically to communicate (a ship in distress, a runway light, a celebration). A 'road flare' is the everyday driver's word for a stick that burns on the roadside near a stalled vehicle. 'Fusee' is the specialist label for the same roadside stick, but it is also the term used by railroad crews for the version protecting stopped trains. If you are talking to a truck driver, say 'road flare'; if you are reading a railway safety manual, you will see 'fusee'.

fusee ↗flare ↗road flaresignal flare

Common collocations

Nouns

  • fusee chain
  • fusee cone
  • road fusee
  • railway fusee

Phrases

  • light a fusee
  • set out a fusee
  • burning fusee

Prepositions

  • behind (the truck)
  • on (the road)
  • inside (the clock)

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Comes from French 'fusée', meaning a spindle full of thread, which itself traces back to Latin 'fusus' meaning a spindle. The clock-pulley sense, recorded since the 1600s, came first because the cone-shaped part looks like a thread spindle. The railroad and roadside warning-flare sense developed in 19th-century American English, probably because the burning stick also looks like a small spindle.