scuttlebutting

Verb

scuttlebutt (third-person singular simple present scuttlebutts, present participle scuttlebutting, simple past and past participle scuttlebutted)

1. (rare, slang, transitive) To spread (information) by way of gossip or rumour.
   • The Pentagon rumor factory hasn't been very busy lately, but some reports are being scuttlebutted about that the U.S. military chiefs are being downgraded in the pecking order and that their military advice has been bypassed or ignored by the Carter Administration.1978 April, Lloyd Norman, “The Military Chiefs and Defense Policy: Is Anyone Listening?”, in L. James Binder, editor, Army, volume 28, number 4, Arlington, Va.: Association of the United States Army...
2. (intransitive, slang) To chat idly or gossip; also, to spread rumours.
   • During the fighting for Manila, it was scuttle-butted among the troops that they must never put pin-up pictures on the walls of the Manila Hotel because Mrs. [Douglas] MacArthur owned fifty per cent of the property and Brigadier General Courtney Whitney, of MacArthur's staff, owned the other half.1946, John LaCerda, “Whitecaps on the Moat”, in The Conqueror Comes to Tea: Japan under MacArthur, New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, →OCLC, pages 97–98

See all 4 meanings of scuttlebutt