scuttle
/'skʌtl/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
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.
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
- an entrance equipped with a hatch; especially a passageway between decks of a ship
- container for coal; shaped to permit pouring the coal onto the fire
Verb
- to move about or proceed hurriedly
- so terrified by the extraordinary ebbing of the sea that they scurried to higher ground