SCUTTLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does scuttle mean? 

• SCUTTLE (noun)
  The noun SCUTTLE has 2 senses:

1. container for coal; shaped to permit pouring the coal onto the fire

2. an entrance equipped with a hatch; especially a passageway between decks of a ship

  Familiarity information: SCUTTLE used as a noun is rare.

• SCUTTLE (verb)
  The verb SCUTTLE has 1 sense:

1. to move about or proceed hurriedly

  Familiarity information: SCUTTLE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SCUTTLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Container for coal; shaped to permit pouring the coal onto the fire

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

coal scuttle; scuttle

Hypernyms ("scuttle" is a kind of...):

container (any object that can be used to hold things (especially a large metal boxlike object of standardized dimensions that can be loaded from one form of transport to another))

Sense 2

Meaning:

An entrance equipped with a hatch; especially a passageway between decks of a ship

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

hatchway; opening; scuttle

Hypernyms ("scuttle" is a kind of...):

entrance; entranceway; entree; entry; entryway (something that provides access (to get in or get out))

Meronyms (parts of "scuttle"):

hatch (a movable barrier covering a hatchway)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "scuttle"):

escape hatch (hatchway that provides a means of escape in an emergency)

• SCUTTLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they scuttle    ... he / she / it scuttles   
Past simple: scuttled   
Past participle: scuttled   
-ing form: scuttling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

To move about or proceed hurriedly

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

scamper; scurry; scuttle; skitter

Context example:

so terrified by the extraordinary ebbing of the sea that they scurried to higher ground

Hypernyms (to "scuttle" is one way to...):

run (move fast by using one's feet, with one foot off the ground at any given time)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "scuttle"):

crab (scurry sideways like a crab)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

 Context examples 

For Latimer, having finally gone for a lantern, held it so that its light shone down the scuttle.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Presently it gave a warning snort, and was off with its family among the reeds, while the armadillos also scuttled for shelter.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But the sly dog dived, came up under the man-of-war, scuttled her, and down she went, with all sail set, 'To the bottom of the sea, sea, sea' where...

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Through the market-place we dashed amidst the shouting of men, the screaming of women, and the scuttling of poultry, and then we were out in the country again, with the long, steep incline of the Redhill Road before us.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

With that I scuttled down the companion with all the noise I could, slipped off my shoes, ran quietly along the sparred gallery, mounted the forecastle ladder, and popped my head out of the fore companion.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

But with me there is a limit, and when I find a man who keeps his cigars in the coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe end of a Persian slipper, and his unanswered correspondence transfixed by a jack-knife into the very centre of his wooden mantelpiece, then I begin to give myself virtuous airs.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The bird made a startled rise, but he struck it with his paw, and smashed it down to earth, then pounced upon it, and caught it in his teeth as it scuttled across the snow trying to rise in the air again.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Once it was a wild sow which scuttled out of the bracken, with two young sounders at her heels, and once a lordly red staggard walked daintily out from among the tree trunks, and looked around him with the fearless gaze of one who lived under the King's own high protection.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then Wolf Larsen’s other hand reached up and clutched the edge of the scuttle.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Once some bandy-legged, lurching creature, an ant-eater or a bear, scuttled clumsily amid the shadows.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)