cuttle
/ˈkʌtəl/ noun
Forms cuttles
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English cutil, codel, codul, from Old English cudele (“cuttlefish”), a diminutive from Proto-Germanic *kudulǭ, from Proto-Germanic *kuddô + -ulǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *gewt- (“pouch, sack”), from *gew- (“to bend, bow, arch, vault, curve”). Equivalent to cod + -le (diminutive suffix). Compare dialectal German Kudele (“cuttlefish”), Norwegian kaule (“cuttlefish”).
From Middle English coutel, from Old French coutel, coltel, cultel, from Latin cultellus. Doublet of couteau. See cutlass.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A knife. [Obs.] Bale.
- noun A cephalopod of the genus Sepia, having an internal shell, large eyes, and ten arms furnished with denticulated suckers, by means of which it secures its prey. The name is sometimes applied to dibranchiate cephalopods generally.
- noun A foul-mouthed fellow. "An you play the saucy cuttle me." Shak.
Etymology [OF. cultel, coltel, coutel, fr. L. cultellus. See Cutlass.]
Etymology [OE. codule, AS. cudele; akin to G. kuttelfish; cf. G. k, D. keutel, dirt from the guts, G. kuttel bowels, entrails. AS. cwip womb, Gith. qipus belly, womb.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “cuttle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details