scuttle-butt

Noun

scuttlebutt (countable and uncountable, plural scuttlebutts)

1. (countable) 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.
   • [S]o they continue to fire as directed, until they are either sent down to the cock-pit themselves, or have a momentary respite from their exertions, when, choaked with smoke and gunpowder, they go aft to the scuttle-butt, to remove their parching thirst.1830, [Frederick Marryat], chapter VIII, in The King’s Own. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, pages 93–94

   Synonyms:

   scuttle-cask

2. (slang, uncountable) Gossip, idle chatter; also, rumour.
   • "That's the scuttlebutt," Bronson said defiantly. "You got some pet coolie down there you want to put in Chien's place." / "Who told you that?" / "It's just scuttlebutt." / "Scuttlebutt travels on words." Holman's voice was shaking. "You tell me one man you heard say that, or I'll beat your fat...1962 September, Richard McKenna, chapter 9, in The Sand Pebbles […], New York, N.Y.; Evanston, Ill.: Harper & Row, →OCLC, page 137

   Synonyms:

   furphy, babble, bavardage, bibble-babble, blab, blabber, blabbing, blather, blathering, chatter

See all 4 meanings of scuttlebutt