In the transition from cask to rumor, we see the word first used as an adjective. It is in the US Navy that we see scuttlebutt shift from a jargon term for a physical object to the slang sense of gossip and rumor. There is no part of a frigate where you will see more going and coming of strangers, and overhear more greetings and gossipings of acquaintances, than in the immediate vicinity of the scuttle-butt, just forward of the main-hatch- way, on the gun-deck.īut as steam replaced sails and pipes replaced wooden casks, the need for literal scuttlebutts on-board ship faded, but the word hung on in reference to the conversations and rumors that had once taken took place there. (That analogy is perhaps a bit dated now, though.) This practice is referred to in Herman Melville’s 1850 novel White-Jacket, which is based on his time aboard the frigate USS United States from 1843–44. Naturally, sailors would gather around the scuttlebutt and talk, much as twentieth-century office workers would gather around the watercooler. Therefore, a scuttlebutt is a water cask with a hole punched in it from which water can be drawn. A scuttle is a hole, and a butt is a barrel or cask. The word arises in nautical jargon of the days of sail where a scuttlebutt was literally a cask containing drinking water for those on-board ship. For email, replace numbers with English alphabet.Scuttlebutt is slang for gossip and rumor. 62 Therewere many who felt.Oscar was just scuttle~butting.
Phillips Private Purkey's Private Peace xi. intr., to gossip, to spread unfounded stories. 57 There are storiesand rumors, scuttle-butt gossip. 1923 Our Navy 1 May 15/2 While these rumors are branded as of the 'scuttle butt' variety they persist as rumors.
Scuttlebutt water fountain full#
199 Ships are full of.rumours.which originate in talk exchanged around the skuttle- butt, or drinking barrel, so that all wild stories are branded as 'scuttle-butt yarns'. 198 It's wilder than anything the scuttle-butt gossips could make up! Ibid. 1901 Smoking Lamp May 18/1 (title) Scuttle butt gossip. attrib., as scuttle-butt gossip, (a) one who exchanges gossip at a scuttle-butt (b) the gossip exchanged there scuttle-butt yarn, a yarn originating from talk around a scuttle-butt. 23/1 They are privy to vast amounts of corporate intelligence (and scuttlebutt) that runs daily around the Rialto. now makes the official majorleague baseball after a 101-year Spalding reign, and the scuttle-butt is that Rawlings is turning out a rabbit ball. Giles Big Greed 76 He'd heard a rumour that the Frog drank+but he dismissed it as a scuttlebutt. 20 I'd got the scuttle-butt about that from the Marine Corps boys. In navy slang 'scuttlebutt' was rife and had the ship bound everywhere from China to Murmansk. 11/7 Also a cause for betting was the ultimate destination. 1933 Leatherneck July 18/1 We will endeavor to convey all of the scandal, scuttle-butt, dope and dopes to you through the.
1901 Smoking Lamp June 55/2 (title of miscellany column) Scuttlebutt.
Mason Roads to Liberty 104 Katie, on her way to draw water from the scuttlebutt, saw a flying fish. The water is freezing coldthe Scuttle Butt is iced.+ Come down and get a drink of cold water. Oklahoma Sea-Bag 25 July 2/1 The Scuttle Butt has justified its existence as a source of prognostic rumor. Dict., Scuttled-butt or (as it is generallyabbreviated) Scuttle-butt, a cask with a square hole cut in its bilge, kept on deck to hold water for ready use. 178 People never can tell so much of other person's affairs, without bailing out most of their ideas from their own scuttle-butts. 123 Going to the scuttle-butt for a drink of water. 45 At sea the marines in succession all do duty as sentries in the following places one at the cabin door, one at the scuttle~butt, one at the brig. It is used to contain the fresh water for daily use. Mariner's Vocab., Scuttle-butt, or cask, is a cask having a square piece sawn out of its bilge and lashed upon the deck. A cask of drinking-water on board ship a drinking-fountain. Taylor wrote on : What is the meaning of and origin for the word SKUTTLEBUTT? OED2v3CD-ROM: "scuttlebutt" or "scuttle-butt" a.
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