1. A gossip or rumor about what other people are doing or might do: Irene was hanging out at the water fountain waiting to get some water when she heard some scuttlebutt about Jake and his fellow worker getting married to each other.

Back in the early 1800s, the cask containing a ship's daily supply of freshwater was called a scuttlebutt; that name was later applied to a drinking fountain on all ships or at naval installations.

2. Etymology: from Middle English scuttel, scutel, "dish, platter" + butt, "a keg of drinking water with a hole cut in it on board ships" because sailors would gather around the scuttlebutt, "to drink and to exchange gossip." © ALL rights are reserved.

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