fusome

Adjective

fusome (comparative more fusome, superlative most fusome)

1. (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
2. (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

IPA/ˈfjuːzəʊm/

fusome (plural fusomes)

1. 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...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