fusome meaning (obsolete): definition, etymology and quotations

fusome

adj

/ˈfjuːsəm/

Etymology From Middle English *fussom, equivalent to fouse (eager, ready, brave, noble) + -some.

UK, Dialectal, Obsolete Handy, deft-handed, workmanlike.

What pleas'd him best, the warmed up some keal, And RALF dud mak a varra fusome meal,1785, Tim Bobbin, The Lancashire Dialect: Containing the Adventures and Misfortunes of a Lancashire Clown:
Whya nowt but weel , she seems a varra conny fusom wife, en I hear they hoffer et dea varra weel, en baith draas yaa way, en gitten ther lile farm varra connoly stockt;1840, Ann Wheeler, The Westmoreland Dialect in Four Familiar Dialogues, page 48:

UK, Dialectal, Obsolete Neat; handsome, comely, shapely, attractive.

She was...as douce and fewsome as ony woman's bairn1867, Eliza Lynn Linton, Lizzie Lorton of Greyrigg:

noun

/ˈfjuːzəʊm/

Etymology From fuse + -ome.

Biology, Natural sciences A germ cell-specific organelle assembled from membrane skeletal proteins and membranous vesicles.

Cystoblasts/cystocytes also divide asymmetrically, and in doing so, the spectrosome evolves into a branched fusome in the 16-cell cyst (5,37), accumulating proteins like Bam, ankyrin, α- and β-spectrins, the adducinlike product of the hu-li tai shao gene (HtsF), dynein (Dhc64C), and Cyclin A (5,35,36).2004, Daryl S. Henderson, Drosophila Cytogenetics Protocols, page 95:
This demonstrates a key role of the fusome as a channel of communication between the cells for the synchronisation and differentiation of the germline cyst.2007, Alvaro Macieira-Coelho, Asymmetric Cell Division, page 105:

1 more example

F-actin is not detected reliably on the fusome in Drosophila female ovaries, whereas it is a major component of the male fusome.2007, František Baluška, Dieter Volkmann, Peter W. Barlow, Cell-Cell Channels, page 226: