scuttlebutt
Meanings
Plural: scuttlebutts
Noun
- a report (often malicious) about the behavior of other people
- Originally (now chiefly historical), a cask with a hole cut into its top, used to provide drinking water on board a ship; now (by extension, informal), a drinking fountain on a modern ship.
- Gossip, idle chatter; also, rumour.
Verb
- To spread (information) by way of gossip or rumour.
- To chat idly or gossip; also, to spread rumours.
Origin / Etymology
The noun is derived from scuttle (“to cut a hole through (something)”) + butt (“wooden cask”). 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.
Synonyms
babble, bavardage, bibble-babble, blab, blabber, blabbing, blather, blathering, chatter, chinwag, chit-chat, clatfart, claver, clepe, comment, furphy, gabble, goss, gossip, gossipry, hot air, labrish, mardle, natter, palaver, prate, prattle, scuttle-cask, scuttlebutt, skeet, small talk, tale, tattle, tidbit, tittle-tattle, twaddle, twittle-twattle, waffle, yackety-yak, yap, yatter
Scrabble Score: 15
scuttlebutt is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordscuttlebutt is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
scuttlebutt is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary