Poke vs Scuttle - What's the difference?

Poke is a related term of scuttle.

As verbs the difference between poke and scuttle

is that poke is to prod or jab with a pointed object such as a finger or a stick while scuttle is (nautical) to cut a hole or holes through the bottom, deck, or sides of (as of a ship), for any purpose or scuttle can be to move hastily, to scurry.

As nouns the difference between poke and scuttle

is that poke is (us|slang) a lazy person; a dawdler or poke can be or poke can be (dialectal) pokeweed while scuttle is a container like an open bucket (usually to hold and carry coal) or scuttle can be a small hatch or opening in a boat also, small opening in a boat or ship for draining water from open deck or scuttle can be a quick pace; a short run.

poke

English

Etymology 1

Perhaps from (etyl) poken or (etyl) poken (both from (etyl) ), perhaps imitative.

Verb

(pok)

To prod or jab with a pointed object such as a finger or a stick.

* {{quote-news

, year=2010 , date=December 29 , author=Sam Sheringham , title=Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Ward showed good pace to beat the advancing Reina to the ball and poke a low finish into the corner.}}

To poke a fire to remove ash or promote burning.

(figuratively) To rummage as in to poke about in.

(computing) To modify the value stored in (a memory address).

* 1984 , Franco Frey, SPECGRAFFITI'' (in ''Crash magazine, issue 6, July 1984)

The 200 UDGs may be used either by paging between 10 sets of 20 UDGs or, alternatively, by displaying 96 different characters by poking the system variable CHARS with 256 less than the starting address of your graphics.

* 1985 , Tom Weishaar, Bert Kersey, The DOStalk Scrapbook (page 44)

If you try to poke a value outside this range into a byte, Basic will beep you with an ILLEGAL QUANTITY error.

To put a poke on.

to poke an ox

To thrust with the horns; to gore.

(informal, internet) To notify.

(label) To thrust (something) in a particular direction such as the tongue.

Derived terms

{{der3, poke along , poke bonnet , poke box , poke fun , toepoke}}

Noun

(en noun)

(US, slang) A lazy person; a dawdler.

(US, slang) A stupid or uninteresting person.

(Bartlett)

(US) A device to prevent an animal from leaping or breaking through fences, consisting of a yoke with a pole inserted, pointed forward.

(computing) The storage of a value in a memory address, typically to modify the behaviour of a program or to cheat at a video game.

* 1988 , "Lloyd Mangram", Forum'' (in ''Crash magazine issue 54, July 1988)

Perhaps all those super hackers who so regularly produce infinite lives etc. could produce pokes to be used by 128K users.

Etymology 2

From (etyl) poke, whence pocket

Noun

(en noun)

* c. 1386 , , The Canterbury Tales'', ''The Miller's Prologue and Tale :

Gerveys answerde, “Certes, were it gold,
Or in a poke nobles alle untold,
Thou sholdest have, as I am trewe smyth.

* c. 1599 , , As You Like It , act 2, scene 7:

And then he drew a dial from his poke ,
And, looking on it with lack-lustre eye,
Says very wisely, ‘It is ten o'clock…’

* 1605 , , Remaines Concerning Brittaine'', 1629 edition, ''Proverbes , page 276:

When the Pig is proffered, hold vp the poke .

* 1627 , , Minor Poems of Michael Drayton'', 1907 edition, poem ''Nimphidia :

And suddainly vntyes the Poke ,
Which out of it sent such a smoke,
As ready was them all to choke,
So greeuous was the pother [...].

* 1814 , September 4, The Examiner'', volume 13, number 349, article ''French Fashions , page 573:

… and as to shape , a nightmare has as much. Under the poke and the muff-box, the face sometimes entirely disappears …

* 1946 , Mezz Mezzrow and Bernard Wolfe, Really the Blues , Payback Press 1999, p. 91:

In the summertime they'd reach out and snatch your straw hat right off your head, and if you were fool enough to go after it your poke was bound to be lighter when you came out.

* 2008 , (James Kelman), Kieron Smith, Boy , Penguin 2009, p. 138:

She did not eat blood-oranges. Her maw gived her one in a poke and she was going to throw it in the bin, Oh it is all black.

A long, wide sleeve; a poke sleeve.

(Scotland, Northern Ireland) An ice cream cone.

Derived terms

* buy a pig in a poke * pocket

Etymology 3

Either a shortening of, or from the same source as, (quod vide).

Noun

(en noun)

(dialectal) Pokeweed.

Synonyms

* see the list at (pokeweed)

scuttle

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)

A container like an open bucket (usually to hold and carry coal).

(construction) A hatch that provides access to the roof from the interior of a building.

A broad, shallow basket.

Etymology 2

From (etyl) ( > (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)

A small hatch or opening in a boat. Also, small opening in a boat or ship for draining water from open deck.

* {{quote-book, year=1928, author=Lawrence R. Bourne

, title=Well Tackled! , chapter=7 citation , passage=The detective kept them in view. He made his way casually along the inside of the shelter until he reached an open scuttle close to where the two men were standing talking. Eavesdropping was not a thing Larard would have practised from choice, but there were times when, in the public interest, he had to do it, and this was one of them.}}

Verb

(nautical) To cut a hole or holes through the bottom, deck, or sides of (as of a ship), for any purpose.

To deliberately sink one's ship or boat by any means, usually by order of the vessel's commander or owner.

* 2002 , Richard Côté, Theodosia Burr Alston: Portrait of a Prodigy , Corinthian Books (2002), ISBN 9781929175314, page 325:

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.

* 2003 , Richard Norton Smith, The Colonel: The Life and Legend of Robert R. McCormick, 1880-1955 , Northwestern University Press (2003), ISBN 0810120399, page 238:

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.

* 2007 , Michael Mueller, Canaris: The Life and Death of Hitler's Spymaster , Naval Institute Press (2007), ISBN 9781591141013, page 17:

He decided that before scuttling the ship to prevent her falling into enemy hands he had to get the dead and wounded ashore.

* 2009 , Nancy Toppino, Insiders' Guide to the Florida Keys and Key West , Insiders' Guide (2009), ISBN 9780762748716, page 227:

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.

(transitive, by extension, in figurative use) Undermine or thwart oneself (sometimes intentionally), or denigrate or destroy one's position or property; compare scupper.

The candidate had scuttled his chances with his unhinged outburst.

Etymology 3

See scuddle.

Verb

To move hastily, to scurry

* Sir Walter Scott

With the first dawn of day, old Janet was scuttling about the house to wake the baron.

* 1898 , , (Moonfleet) Chapter 3

there was a wisp or two of fine seaweed that had somehow got in, and a small crab was still alive and scuttled across the corner, yet the coffins were but little disturbed.

* 1913 ,

Morel scuttled out of the house before his wife came down.

Usage notes

The word "scuttle" carries a crab-like connotation, and is mainly used to describe panic-like movements of the legs, akin to crabs' leg movements.

Noun

(en noun)

A quick pace; a short run.

(Spectator)

References

Anagrams

* English terms with multiple etymologies