Of American-English origin, the expression short fuse is used of a tendency to lose one’s temper easily.
In this expression, the noun fuse refers to a device by which an explosive charge is ignited—as illustrated by the following from the obituary of the U.S. newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951), by W. C. Burton, published in the Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, North Carolina, USA) of Sunday 19th August 1951:
Mr. Hearst was a big man, in error or justice a titan, and he did things in a huge way. Right or wrong he was a colossus, a force. He was dynamite with a short fuse and when he was properly detonated he set up reverberations that could be felt around the globe.
—Cf. also:
– the phrase to blow a fuse, meaning to lose one’s temper, but which refers to a safety device placed in an electric circuit.
– the phrase to blow a gasket, meaning to lose one’s temper.
The earliest occurrences that I have found of the expression short fuse—used of a tendency to lose one’s temper easily—are as follows, in chronological order:
1-: From He Never Says “Ouch!”, published in The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon, USA) of Tuesday 3rd March 1942:
The lively exchange of backhanded compliments between Interior Secretary Ickes 1 and Representative John Taber 2, New York, is nothing less than a heaven-sent squabble to a nation that never needed a trifle of comedy relief more than now. It was a happy moment for the great American public, somewhat down in the chops, when the caustic veteran of congressional statecraft was inspired to say, of parasites who clutter up the capital, that Irascible Harold “unquestionably falls in this category.” Secretary Ickes is accustomed to present a very short fuse to criticism, even in times less trying than these, and in the ensuing exchange of sizzling correspondence he justified again that high public regard which he won when he alluded to Tom Dewey as having “thrown his diapers in the ring.”
1 This refers to Harold Ickes (1874-1952), Secretary of the Interior from 1933 to 1946.
2 This refers to John Taber (1880-1965), Representative from New York from 1923 to 1963.
2-: From the comic strip Vic Flint, by the U.S. cartoonist Ralph Lane (1905-1965), published in several newspapers on Thursday 7th February 1946—for example in The Kalamazoo Gazette (Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA):
On the way back to headquarters I started telling my story to Growl. What a short fuse that guy’s temper has!
3-: From the comic strip Alley Oop, by the U.S. cartoonist Vincent Trout Hamlin (1900-1993), published in several newspapers on Monday 4th March 1946—for example in The Ann Arbor News (Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA):
That Short Fuse Again
Without a word of explanation, our hero boarded an air liner … And now some twenty hours later—
Taxi driver: “Yezzir, where to?”
Alley Oop: “The barber shop!”
Taxi driver: “Okay, pal, you sure could do with a shave, at that!”
Alley Oop: “!!!”
First passer-by, leaning over the taxi driver, whom Alley Oop has beaten up: “Hey! For Pete’s sake, what happened to him?”
Second passer-by: “I dunno. But I think he musta been hit by a truck!”
4-: From Trail to Vengeance Valley, by the U.S. author Dan Cushman (1909-2001), published in the Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey, USA) of Sunday 18th July 1948:
“Don’t tell Bob because you know the kind of a short-fuse temper he has […]. But chances are it wasn’t Valette that killed the dog. And anyhow, he’s a poor fellow for Bob to go gunning for.”
5-: From the column Pitching In a Pinch, by Jack Wheeler, published in the Buffalo Evening News (Buffalo, New York, USA) of Monday 31st January 1949:
There used to be a very stylish cafe in New York at Columbus Circle. Occasionally I would patronize this gilded establishment right after pay day or as a guest, so it was lucky the tale I am about to relate occurred almost simultaneously with the walking of the ghost. Otherwise I would not have been there.
The French restaurateur was married to one of the most beautiful women in New York, but beauty being only skin deep, in the good-looking wrappings was a temper with a short fuse.
6-: From Smooth-Surfaced Parkway Supplants Indian Trails, by Bill Lord, Parkway Naturalist, published in The Roanoke Times (Roanoke, Virginia, USA) of Sunday 23rd September 1951—the following is about 19th-century road-building in what is now known as the Blue Ridge Parkway:
Gradually, through fortitude and necessity, roads came into being. By the early 1800’s through to the 1850’s, mountain routes became established, if not perfected. They were used extensively by freight wagoneers, hauling goods in covered wagons to and from settled regions of the mountains.
[…]
Local rivalries between highlanders and lowlanders often added a rough and tumble tune. Wagoneers, it seems, had a very particular pride and short fuse tempers.
7-: From the comic strip Room and Board, by the U.S. cartoonist Gene Ahern (1895-1960), published in the Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock, Arkansas, USA) of Saturday 8th December 1951:
A short-fuse subject with him
“Robin told me you plan to go on a 90-day world cruise next February because you need a rest! …. That’s what throws me …. Th’ only difference in your idea of a rest will be that you’ll do your late sleeping and loafing in different countries!”
“Paf … Go climb back on your perch, you macaw! … By rest I mean getting away for a spell from the arguing, yammering and small talk of the ringtails in this cage!”
The earliest occurrences that I have found of the adjective short-fused—used of a tendency to lose one’s temper easily—are as follows:
1-: From Poctny, God’s Gift, At Home on a Bus, by Clement L. Lockwood, driver for the Greyhound Bus Lines, published in The Houston Post (Houston, Texas, USA) of Tuesday 11th March 1952:
One blistering July day I was loading my bus, getting ready to pull out of Baltimore. Everyone was sullen and tempers were short-fused.
2-: From an interview of the Hungarian-born U.S. actress Zsa Zsa Gabor (Sári Gábor – 1917-2016), by Dick O’Connor and Eddy Jo Bernal, of International News Service, published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal (Las Vegas, Nevada, USA) of Wednesday 26th May 1954:
Zsa Zsa admits having a short-fused, high explosive temper, but “I’m never mad for more than five minutes.”
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