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Settle vs Mettle - What's the difference?

settle | mettle |

In obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between settle and mettle

is that settle is (obsolete) a place made lower than the rest; a wide step or platform lower than some other part while mettle is (obsolete) metal; a metallic substance.

As nouns the difference between settle and mettle

is that settle is (archaic) a seat of any kind while mettle is a quality of endurance and courage.

As a verb settle

is to place in a fixed or permanent condition; to make firm, steady, or stable; to establish; to fix; especially, to establish in life; to fix in business, in a home etc.

settle

English

(Webster 1913)

Verb

(settl)
  • To place in a fixed or permanent condition; to make firm, steady, or stable; to establish; to fix; especially, to establish in life; to fix in business, in a home etc.
  • * And he settled his countenance steadfastly upon him,until he was ashamed. --2 Kings VIII. 11. (Rev. Ver.)
  • *
  • (transitive, obsolete, US) To establish in the pastoral office; to ordain or install as pastor or rector of a church, society, or parish.
  • To cause to be no longer in a disturbed condition; to quieten; to still; to calm; to compose.
  • * (George Chapman)
  • God settled then the huge whale-bearing lake.
  • * (John Bunyan)
  • Hoping that sleep might settle his brains.
  • To clear or purify (a liquid) of dregs and impurities by causing them to sink
  • To restore (ground, roads etc.) or bring to a smooth, dry, or passable condition
  • To cause to sink; to lower
  • To determine, as something which is exposed to doubt or question; to free from uncertainty
  • * (Jonathan Swift)
  • It will settle the wavering, and confirm the doubtful.
  • To pacify (a discussion, quarrel).
  • (archaic) To adjust (accounts); to liquidate; to balance.
  • (colloquial) To pay.
  • to settle a bill
  • To colonize; to move people to (a land or territory).
  • To become fixed, permanent or stationary; to establish one's self or itself
  • * (Francis Bacon)
  • The wind came about and settled in the west.
  • * (John Arbuthnot)
  • Chyleruns through all the intermediate colors until it settles in an intense red.
  • To fix one's residence; to establish a dwelling place or home.
  • To become married, or a householder.
  • * (Matthew Prior)
  • As people marry now and settle .
  • To be established in a profession or in employment.
  • To become firm, dry, and hard, like the ground after the effects of rain or frost have disappeared.
  • To become clear after being unclear or vague
  • * (Joseph Addison)
  • A government, on such occasions, is always thick before it settles .
  • To sink to the bottom of a body of liquid, for example dregs of a liquid, or the sediment of a reservoir.
  • To sink gradually to a lower level; to subside, for example the foundation of a house, etc.
  • To become calm; to stop being agitated
  • * (William Shakespeare)
  • Till the fury of his highness settle , Come not before him.
  • To adjust differences or accounts; to come to an agreement.
  • (obsolete) To make a jointure for a wife.
  • * (Samuel Garth)
  • He sighs with most success that settles well.

    Synonyms

    * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l)

    Antonyms

    * (to place in a fixed or permanent condition) remove * (l) * (l) * (l)

    Derived terms

    * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic) A seat of any kind.
  • * Hampole
  • upon the settle of his majesty
  • A long bench, often with a high back and arms, with storage space underneath for linen.
  • (obsolete) A place made lower than the rest; a wide step or platform lower than some other part.
  • * Bible, Ezekiel xliii. 14
  • And from the bottom upon the ground, even to the lower settle , shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit.

    mettle

    English

    Noun

    (-)
  • A quality of endurance and courage.
  • * 360 BCE , , Book VIII.
  • In the succeeding generation rulers will be appointed who have lost the guardian power of testing the metal of your different races, which, like Hesiod's, are of gold and silver and brass and iron.
  • * 1599 , '', act iv, scene 8 (''First Folio ed.)
  • By this Day and this Light, the fellow ha's mettell enough in his belly.
  • * 2001 , Harry J. Alexandrowicz, Testing your Mettle: Tough Problems and Real-world Solutions for Middle and High School Teachers , page xiii
  • Please read on and discover the issues in education that test the mettle of those who experience this world every day.
  • Good temperament and character.
  • * 1868 , , Bleak House
  • The arrival of this unexpected heir soon taking wind in the court, still makes good for the Sol, and keeps the court upon its mettle .
  • (obsolete) Metal; a metallic substance.
  • * 1837 , Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy , page 78
  • They have neither gold nor silver of their own, wine nor oyl, or scarce any corn growing in those United Provinces, little or no wood, tin, lead, iron, silk, wooll, any stuff almost, or mettle ; and yet Hungary, Transilvania, that brag of their mines, fertile England, cannot compare with them.

    Synonyms

    * (quality of endurance and courage) courage, heart, spirit