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Scuttle vs Tear - What's the difference?

scuttle | tear | Related terms |

In transitive terms the difference between scuttle and tear

is that scuttle is to deliberately sink one's ship or boat by any means, usually by order of the vessel's commander or owner while tear is to make (an opening) with force or energy.

In intransitive terms the difference between scuttle and tear

is that scuttle is to move hastily, to scurry while tear is to produce tears.

As nouns the difference between scuttle and tear

is that scuttle is a container like an open bucket (usually to hold and carry coal) while tear is a hole or break caused by tearing.

As verbs the difference between scuttle and tear

is that scuttle is to cut a hole or holes through the bottom, deck, or sides of (as of a ship), for any purpose while tear is to rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate.

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

    tear

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) .

    Verb

  • To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate.
  • * 1856 : (Gustave Flaubert), (Madame Bovary), Part III Chapter XI, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
  • He suffered, poor man, at seeing her so badly dressed, with laceless boots, and the arm-holes of her pinafore torn down to the hips; for the charwoman took no care of her.
  • To injure as if by pulling apart.
  • To cause to lose some kind of unity or coherence.
  • *
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.}}
  • To make (an opening) with force or energy.
  • To remove by tearing.
  • To demolish
  • To become torn, especially accidentally.
  • To move or act with great speed, energy, or violence.
  • To smash or enter something with great force.
  • Synonyms
    * (break) rend, rip * (remove by tearing) rip out, tear off, tear out

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A hole or break caused by tearing.
  • A small tear is easy to mend, if it is on the seam.
    Derived terms
    * wear and tear

    Derived terms

    * tearsheet

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (wikipedia tear) (en noun)
  • A drop of clear, salty liquid produced from the eyes by crying or irritation.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=6 citation , passage=‘[…] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity children”. […]’.}}
  • Something in the form of a transparent drop of fluid matter; also, a solid, transparent, tear-shaped drop, as of some balsams or resins.
  • * Dryden
  • Let Araby extol her happy coast, / Her fragrant flowers, her trees with precious tears .
  • That which causes or accompanies tears; a lament; a dirge.
  • * Milton
  • some melodious tear
    Derived terms
    {{der3 , crocodile tears , shed a tear , teardrop , tear duct , tearful , tear up , teary , two tears in a bucket }}

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To produce tears.
  • Her eyes began to tear in the harsh wind.