scuttlebutt
Americannoun
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Nautical.
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an open cask of drinking water.
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a drinking fountain for use by the crew of a vessel.
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Informal. rumor or gossip.
noun
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a drinking fountain
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(formerly) a cask of drinking water aboard a ship
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slang rumour or gossip
Etymology
Origin of scuttlebutt
1795–1805; 1900–05 scuttlebutt for def. 2; scuttle 1 + butt 4
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As documented on Fanlore, the editors of Scuttlebutt #6, a well-circulated adzine, ran a statement in their April-May 1978 issue regarding fan works that included Star Wars characters.
From The Verge • May 24, 2018
As Craig Leweck, editor and publisher of Scuttlebutt Sailing News, a longtime must-read Web site among the sailing community, told me back in May, sailors are used to less-than-perfect conditions.
From The New Yorker • Aug. 23, 2015
Scuttlebutt that Google was about to offer a free email service had leaked out the day before: Here’s John Markoff of the New York reporting on it at the time.
From Time • Apr. 1, 2014
Scuttlebutt was that one was a 1,500-mile Thor, another an earth satellite test rocket, or one could be Atlas No. 2.
From Time Magazine Archive
Scuttlebutt around the base was that the Third’s job would be to take Bougainville, an enemy air base in the Solomon Islands where the Japanese were dug in deep.
From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
