scuttle

plural scuttles · alternative skuttle

1. A container like an open bucket (usually to hold and carry coal).

   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.

   1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 4, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC

   1 more example

   On the way, with superior precaution, we got out our saucepan. The kitchen fire was red, but low; the coal-cellar was locked, and there was nothing in the scuttle but a little coal-dust and the piece of brown paper that is put in to keep the coals from tumbling out through the bottom where the hole is.

   1904, E[dith] Nesbit, “(please specify the page)”, in New Treasure Seekers, London: Ernest Benn, →OCLC

2. A broad, shallow basket.
3. Northern EnglandScotlandobsoleteA dish, platter or a trencher.

plural scuttles · alternative skuttle

1. A small hatch or opening in a boat, sometimes one used for draining water from open deck.

   2 more examples

   My knife was at my hip. I returned to my hut for the shotgun, made sure it was loaded, and went down to the Ghost. With some difficulty, and at the expense of a wetting to the waist, I climbed aboard. The forecastle scuttle was open. I paused to listen for the breathing of the men, but there was no breathing.

   1904, Jack London, chapter 32, in The Sea-Wolf (Macmillan’s Standard Library), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC

   The detective kept them in view. He made his way casually along the inside of the shelter until he reached an open scuttle close to where the two men were standing talking. Eavesdropping was not a thing Larard would have practised from choice, but there were times when, in the public interest, he had to do it, and this was one of them.

   1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 7, in Well Tackled!

2. automotiveA drained trough between the windscreen and bonnet of a motor vehicle, forming the intake to the heating/air-conditioning system, often also containing the windscreen wiper motor.
   1. automotiveBy extension, the bulkhead at the front of the passenger compartment.
3. businessA hatch that provides access to the roof from the interior of a building.

   Synonyms: roof hatch

present singular third person scuttles · participle present scuttling · participle past scuttled · past scuttled · alternative skuttle

1. transitivenauticalTo cut a hole or holes through the bottom, deck, or sides of (as of a ship), for any purpose.
2. transitiveTo deliberately sink one's ship or boat by any means, usually by order of the vessel's commander or owner.

   The Vichy French fleet in Toulon in 1942 scuttled itself as a final "fuck you" to the invading Germans.

   5 more examples

   "My men, the schooner coming up on our weather quarter is a Portuguese pirate. His character is known; he scuttles all the ships he boards, dishonours the women, and murders the crew."

   1863, Charles Reade, Hard Cash

   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.

   2002, Richard Côté, Theodosia Burr Alston: Portrait of a Prodigy, Corinthian Books, published 2002, →ISBN, page 325

   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.

   2003, Richard Norton Smith, The Colonel: The Life and Legend of Robert R. McCormick, 1880-1955, Northwestern University Press, published 2003, →ISBN, page 238

   He decided that before scuttling the ship to prevent her falling into enemy hands he had to get the dead and wounded ashore.

   2007, Michael Mueller, Canaris: The Life and Death of Hitler's Spymaster, Naval Institute Press, published 2007, →ISBN, page 17

   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.

   2009, Nancy Toppino, Insiders' Guide to the Florida Keys and Key West, Insiders' Guide, published 2009, →ISBN, page 227

3. broadlytransitiveTo deliberately wreck one's vehicle (of any sort).

   The third and equally important fact is that at the time of gear retraction more than ample runway remained to brake to a successful stop and even had there been a fire in the left engine no necessity existed for scuttling the aircraft.

   1958 November 19, Civil Aeronautics Board, “Analysis”, in Aircraft Accident Report: American Airlines, Inc., Convair 240, N 94213, New Haven, Connecticut, March 1, 1958, retrieved 25 Nov 2022, page 4

4. broadlytransitiveTo undermine or thwart oneself or one's position or property, especially deliberately.

   The candidate had scuttled his chances with his unhinged outburst.

   3 more examples

   The proposed merger of the Morgan Stanley Group and the S. G. Warburg Group collapsed today, scuttling plans by the companies to create one of the world's most powerful investment banks.

   1994 December 16, Richard W. Stevenson, “Financial Merger Is Scuttled”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   But the $3.5 billion ignition facility, derided by some critics as taxpayer-financed science fiction, is running into new challenges that may further delay and perhaps scuttle its goal.

   2011 June 24, John Upton, “Fusion Experiment Faces New Hurdles”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   By pushing for such an extreme and indefensible position, the old-media moguls sparked a tremendous outcry, which caused the legislation to be redrafted and then scuttled, at least temporarily

   2014, Astra Taylor, chapter 4, in The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN

   Synonyms: destroy, wreck

present singular third person scuttles · participle present scuttling · participle past scuttled · past scuttled · alternative skuttle

1. intransitiveTo move hastily, to scurry.

   Morel scuttled out of the house before his wife came down.

   1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 8, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC

   3 more examples

   With the first dawn of day, old Janet was scuttling about the house to wake the baron.

   1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC

   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.

   [1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC

   Frank was crouched in the hallway, but scuttled back to his bedroom just in time. With her bloomers still round her ankles Auntie Flip scampered sideways like a crab back to the living room.

   2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN

plural scuttles · alternative skuttle

1. A quick pace; a short run.

   She scarce gave me time to return her salute, before she quitted the shop with an easy scuttle, and stepped again into her coach

   1712 November 24 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “THURSDAY, November 14, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 536; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC