What does scuttlebutt mean?
Scuttlebutt most often means information, rumor, or gossip passed informally among people, as in the phrase "the latest scuttlebutt." Its connotation is typically informal: the word often suggests talk that may be incomplete, unverified, or unreliable, although it can also refer to useful information exchanged within a group. Scuttlebutt also has established nautical meanings. It can denote a cask of drinking water carried aboard a ship or a small hatch or covering in the deck. These meanings reflect the word's origins in a compound of "scuttle," referring to a small opening or fitting on a ship, and "butt," meaning a cask. The word is especially evocative in naval and maritime writing because it evokes sailors sharing news while drawing water. Today, however, its figurative sense as gossip or word of mouth is by far the most familiar, making it a distinctive and slightly humorous alternative to words such as rumor, gossip, and hearsay.
nounInformally, information, rumor, or gossip; more generally, a drinking-water cask on a ship or a small hatch or covering on a ship's deck.
- Information, rumor, or gossip passed among people.
- A cask on board a ship containing drinking water.
- A small hatch, opening, or covering on a ship's deck.
"I heard the scuttlebutt before the official announcement."
"The rumors were little more than scuttlebutt, but the whole crew was repeating them."
"The captain ordered the ship's scuttlebutt checked for leaks."
The plural is chiefly applicable to the physical nautical objects; the information or gossip sense is normally treated as uncountable.
"The old ship carried two scuttlebutts for the crew."
What began as a ship's drinking-water cask became sailors' shorthand for the latest gossip, giving us a nautical word for anything passed around in confidence.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does scuttlebutt come from?
The compound scuttlebutt combines "scuttle," a term associated with a small opening or covering on a ship, with "butt," an old word for a cask. In its original nautical sense, it referred to a drinking-water cask or fitting aboard a ship. Its familiar meaning for information or gossip developed through nautical usage, in which sailors shared news while drawing water from the ship's scuttlebutt.
How scuttlebutt is actually used
The information or gossip sense is informal and often implies that the information is unverified or not officially confirmed. The nautical senses are technical and are now encountered mainly in maritime contexts, historical writing, and the names of ship fittings.
Easily confused with scuttlebutt
Scuttle can mean to sink a ship or refer to a deck opening, whereas scuttlebutt is the compound for a ship's water cask, a hatch or covering, or informal information and gossip.