scuttles

Noun (1)

scuttle (plural scuttles)

1. A container like an open bucket (usually to hold and carry coal).
   • All through dinner—which was long, in consequence of such accidents as the dish of potatoes being mislaid in the coal skuttle and the handle of the corkscrew coming off and striking the young woman in the chin—Mrs. Jellyby preserved the evenness of her disposition.1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 4, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC
2. A broad, shallow basket.
3. (Northern England, Scotland, obsolete) A dish, platter or a trencher.

Noun (2)

scuttle (plural scuttles)

1. A small hatch or opening in a boat, sometimes one used for draining water from open deck.
   • My knife was at my hip. I returned to my hut for the shotgun, made sure it was loaded, and went down to the Ghost. With some difficulty, and at the expense of a wetting to the waist, I climbed aboard. The forecastle scuttle was open. I paused to listen for the breathing of the men, but there was no...1904, Jack London, chapter 32, in The Sea-Wolf (Macmillan’s Standard Library), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC
2. A drained trough between the windscreen and bonnet of a motor vehicle, forming the intake to the heating/air-conditioning system, often also containing the windscreen wiper motor.
   1. By extension, the bulkhead at the front of the passenger compartment.

See all 13 meanings of scuttle