Definition of "defuse"

defuse¹

/diːˈfjuːz/

verb
third-person singular simple present defuses, present participle defusing, simple past and past participle defused
1. (transitive) To remove the fuse from (a bomb, etc.).
2. (transitive, figurative) To make less dangerous, tense, or hostile.

defuse²

/dɪˈfjuːz/

verb
third-person singular simple present defuses, present participle defusing, simple past and past participle defused
1. (obsolete) To disorder; to make shapeless.
  Quotations
  If but as well I other accents borrow / That can my speech defuse,
  c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene iv], line 2