Definition

1. Verb:

   • To move quickly with short, hurried steps: This is the most common meaning of "scuttle." It describes a fast, often panicked or furtive, way of walking or running, typically with small, quick steps.
   • To deliberately sink a ship: This is a nautical term meaning to intentionally cause a ship to sink, often by opening seacocks or making holes in its hull.

2. Noun:

   • A quick, hurried movement or pace: The act of moving in a hurried, scuttling manner.
   • A small opening or hatch with a lid: A covered opening in a ship's deck, hull, or a building's roof, often for access or ventilation.
   • A container for coal: A bucket or hod, typically with a sloping lip, used for carrying coal.

Usage Examples

• Verb (to move hurriedly):
  • The crab scuttled sideways across the sand.
  • When the lights came on, the cockroaches scuttled back into the shadows.
• Verb (to sink a ship):
  • The captain ordered the crew to scuttle the ship to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.
• Noun (hatch):
  • The sailor climbed up through the deck scuttle.
• Noun (coal container):
  • He filled the scuttle with coal for the fireplace.

Advanced Usage

• "To scuttle a plan/negotiations/deal": To deliberately cause a plan or discussion to fail or be abandoned.
  • The last-minute disagreement scuttled the merger talks.

Variants and Related Words

• Scuttling (n/adj): The act of moving hurriedly or of sinking a ship. Can also describe something that moves in such a way.
  • We heard the scuttling of tiny feet in the attic.

Synonyms

• Verb (to move): scamper, scurry, dart, hurry, bustle.
• Verb (to sink): sink, deliberately sink, send to the bottom.
• Noun (hatch): hatchway, opening, port.
• Noun (container): hod, bucket, pail.

Related Phrasal Verbs

(Note: "Scuttle" is not commonly used in phrasal verb constructions. Its meanings are typically expressed directly.)

Related Idioms

• "Scuttlebutt": (n) Gossip or rumor. This term originated from the "scuttle butt," which was a cask of drinking water on a ship where sailors would gather and talk.
  • The office scuttlebutt is that the manager is leaving.

Noun

1. an entrance equipped with a hatch; especially a passageway between decks of a ship
2. container for coal; shaped to permit pouring the coal onto the fire

Verb

1. to move about or proceed hurriedly
   • so terrified by the extraordinary ebbing of the sea that they scurried to higher ground