scuttle
verbEtymology Borrowed from Middle French escoutille (compare French écoutille), from Old Norse skaut (“corner of a cloth, of a sail”), or alternatively from Spanish escotilla, ultimately from Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍄𐍃 (skauts, “projecting edge, fringe”), from Proto-Germanic *skautaz (“corner; wedge; lap”). Compare German Schoß, Old English sċēat. More at sheet.
2
To deliberately sink one's ship or boat by any means, usually by order of the vessel's commander or owner.
- The Vichy French fleet in Toulon in 1942 scuttled itself as a final "fuck you" to the invading Germans.
- "My men, the schooner coming up on our weather quarter is a Portuguese pirate. His character is known; he scuttles all the ships he boards, dishonours the women, and murders the crew."1863, Charles Reade, Hard Cash:
4 more examples
- In this version, the Patriot was boarded by pirates (or the crew and passengers were overpowered by mutineers), who murdered everyone and then looted and scuttled the ship.2002, Richard Côté, Theodosia Burr Alston: Portrait of a Prodigy, Corinthian Books, published 2002, →ISBN, page 325:
- To lay the foundation for an all-weather dock at Shelter Bay, he filled an old barge with worn-out grindstones from the Thorold paper mill, then scuttled the vessel.2003, Richard Norton Smith, The Colonel: The Life and Legend of Robert R. McCormick, 1880-1955, Northwestern University Press, published 2003, →ISBN, page 238:
- He decided that before scuttling the ship to prevent her falling into enemy hands he had to get the dead and wounded ashore.2007, Michael Mueller, Canaris: The Life and Death of Hitler's Spymaster, Naval Institute Press, published 2007, →ISBN, page 17:
- In recent years, steel-hull vessels up to 350 feet long have been scuttled in stable sandy-bottom areas, amassing new communities of fish and invertebrates and easing the stress and strain on the coral reef by creating new fishing and diving sites.2009, Nancy Toppino, Insiders' Guide to the Florida Keys and Key West, Insiders' Guide, published 2009, →ISBN, page 227:
3
Broadly To deliberately wreck one's vehicle (of any sort).
- The third and equally important fact is that at the time of gear retraction more than ample runway remained to brake to a successful stop and even had there been a fire in the left engine no necessity existed for scuttling the aircraft.1958 November 19, Civil Aeronautics Board, “Analysis”, in Aircraft Accident Report: American Airlines, Inc., Convair 240, N 94213, New Haven, Connecticut, March 1, 1958, retrieved 25 Nov 2022, page 4:
4
Broadly To undermine or thwart oneself or one's position or property, especially deliberately.
- The candidate had scuttled his chances with his unhinged outburst.
- The proposed merger of the Morgan Stanley Group and the S. G. Warburg Group collapsed today, scuttling plans by the companies to create one of the world's most powerful investment banks.1994 December 16, Richard W. Stevenson, “Financial Merger Is Scuttled”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
2 more examples
- But the $3.5 billion ignition facility, derided by some critics as taxpayer-financed science fiction, is running into new challenges that may further delay and perhaps scuttle its goal.2011 June 24, John Upton, “Fusion Experiment Faces New Hurdles”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- By pushing for such an extreme and indefensible position, the old-media moguls sparked a tremendous outcry, which caused the legislation to be redrafted and then scuttled, at least temporarily2014, Astra Taylor, chapter 4, in The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN: