Definition of "scuttle" [scut•tle]

• A small opening or hatch with a movable lid in the deck or hull of a ship or in the roof, wall, or floor of a building. (noun)
• The lid or hatch of such an opening. (noun)
• Nautical To cut or open a hole or holes in (a ship's hull). (verb-transitive)
• Nautical To sink (a ship) by this means. (verb-transitive)
• Informal To scrap; discard: "a program [the] President . . . sought to scuttle” ( Christian Science Monitor). (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "When the wash receded they followed it with an incredibly rapid twinkling of little legs; and when again the wave rushed, shoreward, _scuttle, scuttle, scuttle_ went they, keeping always just at the edge of the water."
• "The word scuttle has appeared in 70 New York Times articles in the past year, including on June 24 in "Fusion Experiment Faces New Hurdles," by John Upton:"
• "Learn more about the word "scuttle" and see usage examples across a range of subjects on the Vocabulary.com dictionary."