Scuttles

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Small openings or compartments on a ship's surface ; to move rapidly using short, quick steps ; to intentionally cause a ship to sink
2. Hatches or small covers on a vessel ; to run or scurry in a fast, hurried manner ; to deliberately flood and sink a boat or ship
3. Circular or square openings on a boat's deck for ventilation or access ; to scurry or dart away quickly ; to purposely make a vessel sink by opening its hull or valves

Etymology: Scuttles is the plural of "scuttle," which has three unrelated senses that arrived in English by different routes. The oldest traces to a dish: Old English "scutel" meant a platter, borrowed from Latin "scutella," a diminutive of "scutra," a flat tray. A coal scuttle and a bucket-like container followed the same kitchen line of meaning. The nautical sense is a different story. It came from Middle French "escoutille," a hatch or opening in a ship's deck, which in turn may derive from Old Norse "skaut," meaning the corner of a sail or cloth. A ship's hatch and a sail's corner thus share a root in an old Germanic word for a projecting edge. The Spanish "escotilla" offers a parallel path back to the same Gothic ancestor, "skauts," meaning a fringe or projecting edge. The sense of hurrying or scurrying is connected to "scuddle," a related verb, rather than to either noun. The verb meaning to deliberately sink a ship grew out of the naval hatch sense, since opening the hatches let water in.

Synonyms: scampers, scurries