scuttle
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /ˈskʌtəl/, [ˈskʌtɫ̩], [ˈskʌtəɫ]
  • (America) IPA: /ˈskʌtəl/, [ˈskʌɾɫ̩], [ˈskʌɾəɫ]
Noun

scuttle (plural scuttles)

  1. A container like an open bucket (usually to hold and carry coal).
    • 1853, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, ch 4:
      All through dinner—which was long, in consequence of such accidents as the dish of potatoes being mislaid in the coal skuttle and the handle of the corkscrew coming off and striking the young woman in the chin—Mrs. Jellyby preserved the evenness of her disposition.
  2. A broad, shallow basket.
  3. (obsolete, Northern England and Scotland) A dish, platter or a trencher.
Translations
  • German: Eimer, Kohleneimer, Kohlenschütte
Noun

scuttle (plural scuttles)

  1. A small hatch or opening in a boat. Also, small opening in a boat or ship for draining water from open deck.
  2. (construction) A hatch that provides access to the roof from the interior of a building.
Synonyms
  • (hatch that provides access to the roof) roof hatch
Translations Translations Verb

scuttle (scuttles, present participle scuttling; past scuttled, past participle scuttled)

  1. (transitive, nautical) To cut a hole or holes through the bottom, deck, or sides of (as of a ship), for any purpose.
  2. (transitive) To deliberately sink one's ship or boat by any means, usually by order of the vessel's commander or owner.
    • 2002, Richard Côté, Theodosia Burr Alston: Portrait of a Prodigy, Corinthian Books (2002), ISBN 9781929175314, page 325 ↗:
      In this version, the Patriot was boarded by pirates (or the crew and passengers were overpowered by mutineers), who murdered everyone and then looted and scuttled the ship.
    • 2003, Richard Norton Smith, The Colonel: The Life and Legend of Robert R. McCormick, 1880-1955, Northwestern University Press (2003), ISBN 0810120399, page 238 ↗:
      To lay the foundation for an all-weather dock at Shelter Bay, he filled an old barge with worn-out grindstones from the Thorold paper mill, then scuttled the vessel.
    • 2007, Michael Mueller, Canaris: The Life and Death of Hitler's Spymaster, Naval Institute Press (2007), ISBN 9781591141013, page 17 ↗:
      He decided that before scuttling the ship to prevent her falling into enemy hands he had to get the dead and wounded ashore.
    • 2009, Nancy Toppino, Insiders' Guide to the Florida Keys and Key West, Insiders' Guide (2009), ISBN 9780762748716, page 227 ↗:
      In recent years, steel-hull vessels up to 350 feet long have been scuttled in stable sandy-bottom areas, amassing new communities of fish and invertebrates and easing the stress and strain on the coral reef by creating new fishing and diving sites.
  3. (transitive, by extension, in figurative use) Undermine or thwart oneself (sometimes intentionally), or denigrate or destroy one's position or property; compare scupper.
    The candidate had scuttled his chances with his unhinged outburst.
Translations Verb

scuttle (scuttles, present participle scuttling; past scuttled, past participle scuttled)

  1. (intransitive) To move hastily, to scurry.
    • 1814 July 6, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. In Three Volumes, volume (please specify ), Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, OCLC 270129598 ↗:
    • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 3
      there was a wisp or two of fine seaweed that had somehow got in, and a small crab was still alive and scuttled across the corner, yet the coffins were but little disturbed.
    • 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 8
      Morel scuttled out of the house before his wife came down.
Translations Noun

scuttle (plural scuttles)

  1. A quick pace; a short run.



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