fuzz [L17th] If you are ‘caught by the fuzz’ you are arrested by the police. This fuzz is a different word from the one that means ‘a frizzy mass’, and may be a form of fuss, from the idea of the police ‘making a fuss’. It has been used since the 1920s and originated in the USA. The other fuzz entered English in the late 17th century, probably from Dutch or German, although fuzzy is recorded earlier, in around 1600, when it meant ‘spongy’. Fuzzy logic [1960s] is a form of logic in which a statement can be partially true or false rather than having to be absolutely one or the other.