fettle
English
Etymology
(deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English fetel.
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɛtəl
Noun
fettle (plural fettles)
- A state of proper physical condition; kilter or trim.
- One's mental state; spirits.
- Sand used to line a furnace.
- (Geordie, Cumbria) A person's mood or state, often assuming the worst.
- What's yer fettle marra?
- (ceramics) a seam line left by the meeting of mold pieces.
- (UK, dialect) The act of fettling.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Wright to this entry?)
Usage notes
Outside of dialects, this term is a fossil, found only in the phrase in fine fettle.
Derived terms
Translations
state of proper physical condition; kilter or trim
one's mental state; spirits
|
sand to line a furnace
|
a person's mood or state, often assuming the worst
|
seam line left by the meeting of mold pieces
|
Verb
fettle (third-person singular simple present fettles, present participle fettling, simple past and past participle fettled)
- (Northern England) To sort out, to fix, to mend, to repair.
- 1858 Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II of Prussia
- He is getting his saddle altered: fettling about this and that; does not consider what danger he is in.
- 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, Chapter VI, p. 83, [1]
- For some time after the train had gone Oscar stood on the track conversing with members of the fettling gang […]
- 1858 Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II of Prussia
- (intransitive) To make preparations; to put things in order; to do trifling business.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Bishop Hall to this entry?)
- (transitive) To line the hearth of a furnace with sand prior to pouring molten metal.
- (reflexive, Geordie) To be upset or in a bad mood.
- Divint fettle yersel ower that!
- In ceramics, to remove (as by sanding) the seam lines left by the meeting of two molds.
- (transitive, archaic) To prepare.
- 1595, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet:
- But fettle your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next...
Derived terms
Translations
to sort out, fix, mend or repair
|
to make preparations, put things in order or do trifling business
|
to line the hearth of a furnace with sand
|
to remove seam lines left by the meeting of two molds
|
See also
References
- “fettle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin, [2]
- Frank Graham (1987) The New Geordie Dictionary, →ISBN
- Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
- A List of words and phrases in everyday use by the natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham, F.M.T.Palgrave, English Dialect Society vol.74, 1896, [3]
- Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977[4]
Categories:
- English terms derived from Old English
- Rhymes:English/ɛtəl
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- Geordie English
- Cumbrian English
- en:Ceramics
- British English
- English dialectal terms
- Requests for quotations/Wright
- English verbs
- Northern England English
- English intransitive verbs
- Requests for quotations/Bishop Hall
- English transitive verbs
- English reflexive verbs
- English terms with archaic senses
- English terms with quotations
- Northumbrian English
- en:Emotions