a short fuse

A tendency to become angered, enraged, or upset very quickly or easily; a short temper. I'm usually a pretty calm person, but whenever I start driving I find I have such a short fuse. When we were kids, my dad had a very short fuse, but he's mellowed out since then. That short fuse of yours is going to get you into trouble one of these days.

be on a short fuse

To have a tendency to become angered, enraged, or upset very quickly or easily; to have a short temper. I'm usually a pretty calm person, but whenever I start driving I find I'm on a short fuse. When we were kids, my dad was always on a short fuse, but he's mellowed out since then. If you're always on a short fuse like that, it's going to get you into trouble one of these days.

blow (one's) fuse

To react furiously or violently, to the point of losing control of one's behavior. Mom totally blew her fuse when I told her I had failed math. Don't blow your fuse, it's just a tiny scratch on the car. The boss is definitely going to blow his fuse when he hears we lost that big client.

See also: blow, fuse

blow (one's) stack

To become very angry, often quickly. Oh man, Dad is going to blow his stack when he sees that I wrecked his car! The boss is definitely going to blow his stack when he hears we lost that big client. Mom totally blew her stack when I told her I had failed math.

blow (one's) top

To become very angry, often quickly. Oh man, Dad is going to blow his top when he sees that I wrecked his car! The boss is definitely going to blow his top when he hears we lost that big client. Mom totally blew her top when I told her I had failed math.

blow a fuse

1. To suddenly lose power due to an overloaded electrical circuit. Well, we just blew a fuse—it seems that running the space heater, the coffee maker, and a blow dryer at the same time was not the best idea! Every time he turns that thing on, it blows a fuse in about 20 minutes. You could set your watch to it. Why did the lights just go out? Did we blow a fuse or something?

2. By extension, to react furiously, to the point of losing control of one's behavior. Mom totally blew a fuse when I told her I had failed math. Don't blow a fuse—it's just a tiny scratch on the car. The boss is definitely going to blow a fuse when he hears we lost that big client.

See also: blow, fuse

fuse box

The metal box that contains a building's fuses (safety devices that keep circuits from overloading) The electrician is taking a look at the fuse box right now. Nick's out at the fuse box? Oh dear, did you run the space heater again? That thing always blows a fuse. OK, I got a flashlight, and I'm looking inside the fuse box. Now what do I do?

fuse with (something)

1. To connect or bond two things. In this usage, a noun or pronoun is used between "fuse" and "with." She used a soldering gun to fuse the metal part to the pipe. A: "Wait, I can fuse topaz with a gnarled stick and create a weapon that shoots electricity? Cool!" B: "Yeah, each gem has different elemental properties in this game." Geez, years of rust have fused the hinge with the door frame.

2. To connect or bond with something else. Here, look at the X-ray—you need to get a cast so that this part of the bone fuses with that one. It's definitely not ideal to have vertebrae fuse with each other, no. You need to increase the heat if you want these two ingredients to fuse with each other.

have (got) a short fuse

To have a tendency to become angered, enraged, or upset very quickly or easily; to have a short temper. I'm usually a pretty calm person, but whenever I start driving I find I have such a short fuse. When we were kids, my dad had a very short fuse, but he's mellowed out since then. Wendy's always had a short fuse, and, yes, it has gotten her into trouble before!

light the fuse

To do something that instigates or initiates some intense, dangerous, and widespread action or reaction. Many have accused the leader of lighting the fuse for war with his inflammatory remarks. The law seems poised to light the fuse for protests across the nation should it be passed.

quick temper

A tendency to become angered, enraged, or upset very quickly or easily. I'm usually a pretty calm person, but whenever I start driving I find I have such a quick temper.

blow a fuse

1. to burn out the fuse on an electrical circuit and lose power. The microwave oven blew a fuse, so we had no power. You'll blow a fuse if you use too many appliances at once.

2. and blow one's fuse; blow a gasket; blow one's cork; blow one's lid; blow one's top; blow one's stack Fig. to explode with anger; to lose one's temper. Come on, don't blow a fuse. Go ahead, blow a gasket! What good will that do?

See also: blow, fuse

fuse something with something

to bond something together with something. You have to fuse the upper layer to the lower layer with heat. He used heat and pressure to fuse the patch with the soft rubber of the raft.

fuse with something

to bond with something. The metal has fused with the glass coating on the tank. I didn't know that metal could fuse with glass.

quick temper

and short temper; short fuse

a bad temper that can be easily aroused. Tyler has a quick temper and doesn't mind letting everyone see it.

blow a fuse

Also, blow a gasket. Lose one's temper, express furious anger. For example, When his paycheck bounced, John blew a fuse, or Tell Mom what really happened before she blows a gasket. An electric fuse is said to "blow" (melt) when the circuit is overloaded, whereas a gasket, used to seal a piston, "blows" (breaks) when the pressure is too high. The first of these slangy terms dates from the 1930s, the second from the 1940s. Also see blow one's top; keep one's cool.

See also: blow, fuse

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

be on a short fuse

have a short fuse

If someone is on a short fuse or has a short fuse, they lose their temper very easily. He warned Abbott that he was on a short fuse. He is irritable and has a short fuse, letting you know when he's not pleased. Note: See the explanation at light the fuse.

blow a fuse

If you blow a fuse, you suddenly lose your temper and cannot control your anger. For all my experience, I blew a fuse in the quarter-final and could have been sent off. He's going to blow a fuse when he finds out about Miller. Note: A fuse is a safety device found in electrical equipment. If the equipment becomes too hot, the fuse blows, or burns. This breaks the electrical circuit, so that the equipment will stop working.

See also: blow, fuse

light the fuse

If someone or something lights the fuse, they do something which starts something dangerous or exciting. An outbreak of the virus could light the fuse on the world's next pandemic. This event might have lit the fuse which later led to a depressive breakdown. Note: The fuse referred to here is the type that is used to set off a firework or explosive device.

blow a fuse

lose your temper. informal

The metaphor is of the failure of an electrical circuit or engine as a result of overheating.

See also: blow, fuse

light the (or a) fuse (or touchpaper)

do something that creates a tense or exciting situation.

The image here is of lighting a fuse attached to gunpowder, fireworks, etc. in order to cause an explosion. A touchpaper , which is used in the same way as a fuse, is a twist of paper impregnated with saltpetre to make it burn slowly.

1998 Times The rejection of global capitalism may light a touchpaper in all those countries battered by the crisis.

blow a ˈfuse

(informal) get very angry: It was only a suggestion, Rob. There’s no need to blow a fuse.

This refers to the fact that if the flow of electricity in a piece of electrical equipment is too strong, the fuse (= a small wire or device inside it) will break (blow), often with a loud noise, and stop the current.

See also: blow, fuse

be on/have a short ˈfuse

(informal) be likely to get angry easily, because you are tired, stressed, etc: Your father’s having trouble at work, so his temper’s on a short fuse today. ♢ Be careful what you say to the director. She has a very short fuse.

A fuse is a piece of string or paper which is lit to make a bomb explode.

blow a fuse

and blow one’s fuse and blow a gasket and blow one’s cork and blow one’s lid and blow one’s top and blow one’s stack

tv. to explode with anger; to lose one’s temper. Go ahead, blow a gasket! What good will that do? Crunk! I so blew my top!

See also: blow, fuse

blow one’s fuse

verb

See blow a fuse

See also: blow, fuse

fuse box

n. the head; the brain. I’m afraid she’s missing a little something in the fuse box.

have a short fuse

tv. to be easy to anger. (Have got can replace have.) He’s got a short fuse, so watch out.

short fuse

n. a quick temper. I knew she’d blow. She’s got a short fuse.

blow a fuse

/gasket Slang

To explode with anger.

See also: blow, fuse

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

blow one's top/stack/fuse, to

To lose one’s temper. The first two terms allude to clearing the stack of a ship by blowing air through it; the last refers to the sudden power stoppage when a fuse blows. All are slang from the first half of the twentieth century. Jane Smiley wrote in Horse Heaven (2000), “‘It’s kind of fun in a way. At least I get to blow my stack a lot and they don’t mind. Blowing your stack is the way they do things here.’”

blow a fuse

Lose your temper. Back in the days before circuit breakers, a house's electrical system was regulated by a fuse box. Individual fuses connected to separate lines throughout the house were inserted into the box. When a circuit became overloaded, a thin metal strip in the fuse melted, breaking the circuit to prevent an overload and a possible fire. You'd then replace the fuse after disconnecting whatever appliance might have caused the overload. Someone who because very angry was said to blow a fuse, which doesn't make sense because a fuse was meant to defuse, so to speak, the situation. But no one ever said that idioms must be rational. Similar expressions that make more sense are “blow your stack,” which came from the era of steam engines that would explode if the steam wasn't allowed to explode, and “have a meltdown,” as in a nuclear reactor gone wild.

See also: blow, fuse

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