scuttle
pronunciation
How to pronounce scuttle in British English:
UK [ˈskʌtl]
How to pronounce scuttle in American English:
US [ˈskʌtl]
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- Noun:
- container for coal; shaped to permit pouring the coal onto the fire
- an entrance equipped with a hatch; especially a passageway between decks of a ship
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- Verb:
- to move about or proceed hurriedly
Word Origin
- scuttle
- scuttle: English has three distinct words scuttle. The oldest, ‘large container’ [15] (now mainly encountered in coal-scuttle), was borrowed from Old Norse skutill, which goes back ultimately to Latin scutella ‘tray, salver’ (from which English also gets scullery and skillet). Scuttle ‘sink a ship’ [17] is a verbal use of an earlier noun scuttle ‘opening or hatch in a ship’s side’.This was borrowed from early modern French escoutille ‘hatch’, which in turn came from Spanish escotilla, a diminutive form of escota ‘opening in a garment’. And escota was derived from escotar ‘cut out’, a compound verb formed with the prefix e- ‘out’ from the Germanic stem *skaut- (source of English sheet). Scuttle ‘run’ [17] is a variant of the now obsolete scuddle, which was derived from scud ‘move quickly’ [16]; and scud itself may have been an alteration of scut ‘rabbit’s tail’ [15] (a word of unknown origin), the underlying meaning therefore being ‘run like a rabbit’.=> scullery, skillet; sheet; scud, scut
- scuttle (n.)
- "bucket," late Old English scutel "dish, platter," from Latin scutella "serving platter" (source also of French écuelle, Spanish escudilla, Italian scudella "a plate, bowl"), diminutive of scutra "flat tray, dish," perhaps related to scutum "shield" (see hide (n.1)). A common Germanic borrowing from Latin (Old Norse skutill, Middle Dutch schotel, Old High German scuzzila, German Schüssel "a dish"). Meaning "basket for sifting grain" is attested from mid-14c.; sense of "bucket for holding coal" first recorded 1849.
- scuttle (v.1)
- "scamper, scurry," mid-15c., probably related to scud (v.). Related: Scuttled; scuttling. I should have been a pair of ragged claws Scuttling across the floors of silent seas. [T.S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"]
- scuttle (v.2)
- "cut a hole in a ship to sink it," 1640s, from skottell (n.) "opening in a ship's deck" (late 15c.), from Middle French escoutille (Modern French écoutille) or directly from Spanish escotilla "hatchway," diminutive of escota "opening in a garment," from escotar "cut out," perhaps from e- "out" (see ex-) + Germanic *skaut-. Figurative use is recorded from 1888. Related: Scuttled; scuttling.
Example
- 1. An adversarial or uncooperative attitude can easily scuttle any positive results and plunge the discussion into pointless hostility .
- 2. A lawsuit in oklahoma seeks to scuttle this effort , claiming that a legislative glitch prohibits subsidies on the federal exchanges .
- 3. Such concerns could scuttle the capital increase plan , as congress will need to approve funding for the bank 's capital expansion .
- 4. Taking clients can scuttle your relationship with your former employer , who can be a good source of regular work , and it may also negatively impact your reputation in the industry .
- 5. Another danger is that too much anti-foreign sentiment will scuttle china 's effort to play the gracious host in august , when hundreds of thousands of visitors will descend on beijing for the olympics .