Link Centre Dictionary

scuttlebutt

scutt·le·butt

UK/ˈskʌtəlbʌt/ US/ˈskʌtəlˌbʌt/ rare rare slang

noun

1.

a report (often malicious) about the behavior of other people

  • “the divorce caused much gossip”
Synonyms

Origin

The noun is derived from scuttle (“to cut a hole through (something)”) + butt (“wooden cask”). Noun sense 2 (“gossip, idle chatter; rumour”) refers to the fact that sailors would gather around the scuttlebutt to drink and exchange gossip; compare furphy and water cooler. The verb is derived from the noun.

Phrases

  • water cooler

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.