Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Proper or sound condition.
- noun Mental or emotional state; spirits.
- noun Metallurgy Loose sand or ore used to line the hearth of a reverberatory furnace in preparation for pouring molten metal.
- transitive verb To line the hearth of (a reverberatory furnace) with loose sand or ore in preparation for pouring molten metal.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Neat; tight; handy.
- noun The state of being prepared, or in good repair or condition: as, he is in splendid fettle to-day.
- noun A handle in the side of a large basket.
- To bind; tie up.
- To arrange; prepare; put in order; repair; mend.
- To beat; thrash.
- Toline(the hearth of a puddling-furnace). See
fettling . - Fettled ale or porter, ale or porter sweetened with sugar and seasoned with a little ginger and nutmeg.
- To potter; set about in a fussy, pottering way; do trifling business.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb Prov. Eng. To repair; to prepare; to put in order.
- transitive verb (Metal.) To cover or line with a mixture of ore, cinders, etc., as the hearth of a puddling furnace.
- intransitive verb Prov. Eng. To make preparations; to put things in order; to do trifling business.
- noun Prov. Eng. The act of fettling.
- noun in good spirits.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A state of proper physical condition;
kilter ortrim . - noun One's mental state;
spirits . - noun
Sand used to line afurnace . - noun Geordie A person's
mood orstate , often assuming theworst . - noun ceramics a seam line left by the meeting of mold pieces.
- noun UK, dialect The act of fettling.
- verb Northern England To
sort out , tofix , tomend , torepair . - verb transitive To
line thehearth of afurnace withsand prior topouring molten metal . - verb transitive, Geordie To be
upset or in badmood . - verb In ceramics, to remove (as by sanding) the seam lines left by the meeting of two molds.
- verb UK, cycling, slang To
repair ortune abicycle . - verb transitive (
archaic ) Toprepare .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a state of fitness and good health
- verb remove mold marks or sand from (a casting)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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Please accept this simple three minute virtual coaching session as a substitute for my absence and distraction and I promise to be back in fine 'fettle' next week.
CRASH -- Lost It All in a Computer Crash But, Hey, Who Cares? 2010
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Please accept this simple three minute virtual coaching session as a substitute for my absence and distraction and I promise to be back in fine 'fettle' next week.
James M. Lynch: CRASH -- Lost It All in a Computer Crash But, Hey, Who Cares? 2010
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Without another word she left the room, clattering her heavy shoes at the door; and Mordacks foresaw a sad encounter on the morrow, without a good breakfast to "fettle" him for it.
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The USA line-up looks better in terms of the world rankings it contains five of the world's top 20, compared to Europe's one, Pettersen but recent form suggests the home team may be in better fettle.
Solheim Cup needs great golf to add to a tradition of enmity and spite | Lawrence Donegan 2011
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Those fifty-one days of fine sailing and intense sobriety had put me in splendid fettle.
Chapter 16 2010
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Still in fine fettle at the age of 87, Ruth Young, a retired Oakland school nurse, jumped at the chance, she said, to “spit for the cause.”
Californian’s Volunteer DNA for Largest Human Genome Study Ever Attempted | Impact Lab 2010
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We have had a very pleasing vacance, and now return to you in fine fettle, ready to tear apart your uninspired literary efforts with renewed vigor!
Archive 2010-01-01 2010
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The bus driver was initially reported in serious condition; on KTTV/11 FOX News that night, his fiancé reported she had seem him and he was in good condition, and showed photos of him she had just taken and he appeared in reasonably fine fettle.
Steve Parker: Why There Are No Seat Belts in School Buses, And Other Safety Questions Steve Parker 2010
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We have had a very pleasing vacance, and now return to you in fine fettle, ready to tear apart your uninspired literary efforts with renewed vigor!
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I foolishly left the information brochures for SF Canada on my desk at home and had to fettle up something rough-and-ready on my netbook.
Montreal WorldCon Day 1 ewillett 2009
thigpensrevenge commented on the word fettle
in fine fettle
January 7, 2007
sonofgroucho commented on the word fettle
I thought this was particularly Scottish. Am I wrong?
December 17, 2007
reesetee commented on the word fettle
I hear it used relatively often (in the States, east coast), SoG, but only in the phrase thigpen mentions: in fine fettle.
I often wonder what a poor fettle might look like.
December 17, 2007
yarb commented on the word fettle
Sired by surgical Sundries Inc.,
my appearance - patent pending - is awesome.
I am not fettled from fleeces of thick wool,
no knitter's needles knocked me up.
- Peter Reading, ?, from Tom O' Bedlam's Beauties, 1981
June 28, 2008
fbharjo commented on the word fettle
a different type of sand blasting (or should I say sand basking)
September 7, 2009