fettle
verbEtymology From Late Middle English fetlen (“(verb) to bestow; to fix, prepare, put in place; to prepare (oneself) for battle, gird up; to shape; to be about to, or to ready (oneself) to stay; (adjective) shaped (well or poorly)”) [and other forms], which possibly: * from Old English fetel (“belt, girdle, fettle”), from Proto-Germanic *fatilaz, further etymology unknown; or * from Old English fetian (“to fetch”), from Proto-Germanic *fatōną, *fatjaną (“to fetch”), from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“foot”). Compare Old English ġefetelsod (“provided with a belt; trimmed, polished, ornamented”).
7 senses
Northern England, Especially To sort out, to fix, to mend, to repair.
- He is getting his saddle altered: fettling about this and that; does not consider what danger he is in.1858, Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II of Prussia:
- For some time after the train had gone Oscar stood on the track conversing with members of the fettling gang […]1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter VI, in Capricornia, page 83:
To make preparations; to put things in order; to do trifling business.
- Nor list he now go whistling to the car, But sells his team , and fettleth to the war1597, [Joseph Hall], “(please specify the page)”, in Virgidemiarum, Sixe Bookes. First Three Bookes, of Tooth-lesse Satyrs. […], London: […] Thomas Creede, for Robert Dexter, →OCLC:
To line the hearth of a furnace with sand prior to pouring molten metal.
Geordie To be upset or in a bad mood.
- Divint fettle yersel ower that!
Ceramics, Chemistry, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences To remove (as by sanding) the seam lines left by the meeting of two molds.
Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences To machine away seam lines or more generally to make small adjustments to a component or machine to improve its fit or operation.
- He wants to fettle his gearchange mechanism before the next competition.
Archaic To prepare.
- But fettle your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next...1595, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet:
- Related terms
- fash