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- Dictionaryscuttlebutt/ˈskʌtlbʌt/
noun
- 1. rumour; gossip: informal North American "the scuttlebutt has it that he was a spy"
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noun [ U ] infml us / ˈskʌt̬· ə lˌbʌt / Add to word list. information that may or may not be true; rumor: Scuttlebutt around the office has it that he’s been fired.
1. a. : a cask on shipboard to contain fresh water for a day's use. b. : a drinking fountain on a ship or at a naval or marine installation. 2. : rumor, gossip. Did you know? Scuttlebutt, the Water Cooler Talk of 19th Century Seafarers.
noun [ U ] infml us / ˈskʌt̬· ə lˌbʌt / Add to word list. information that may or may not be true; rumor: Scuttlebutt around the office has it that he’s been fired.
Scuttlebutt definition: an open cask of drinking water.. See examples of SCUTTLEBUTT used in a sentence.
Scuttlebutt in slang usage means rumor or gossip, deriving from the nautical term for the cask used to serve water (or, later, a water fountain). [1] [2] The term corresponds to the colloquial concept of a water cooler in an office setting, which at times becomes the focus of congregation and casual discussion.
noun. 1. Nautical. a drinking fountain on shipboard. 2. US, Informal. rumor or gossip. Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved. Word origin.
n. 1. Nautical. a. A cask on a ship used to hold the day's supply of drinking water. b. A drinking fountain on a ship. 2. Slang Gossip; rumor. [Alteration of scuttled butt, cask with a hole cut into it : scuttle, to cut a hole in (the hull of a ship) + butt.
