fettle

Meaning

Noun

1. A state of physical condition; kilter or trim.
2. One's mental state; spirits.
3. Sand used to line a furnace.
4. A seam line left by the meeting of mould pieces.
5. The act of fettling.
6. A person's mood or state, often assuming the worst.

Verb

1. To sort out, to fix, to mend, to repair.
2. To make preparations; to put things in order; to do trifling business.
3. To line the hearth of a furnace with sand prior to pouring molten metal.
4. To be upset or in a bad mood.
5. In ceramics, to remove (as by sanding) the seam lines left by the meeting of two molds.
6. To prepare.

Synonyms

state

form

condition

groom

situation

order

repair

distill

distillate

fitness

kilter

liqueur

liquor

list

lustrate

mending

mull

patch

plight

predicament

purge

purify

rectify

refine

sanitize

scavenge

shape

spirits

statement

status

trim

trimming

unblock

wash

🧽

dress out

make pure

deterge

repatching

repaired biscuit

busy

fettlin

case

circumstance

circumstances

clean

cleanse

clear

Hyphenated as

fet‧tle

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈfɛtl̩/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: fetlen

Inherited from Old English: fetel

Inherited from Old English: fetian

Cognate with Old English: ġefetelsod

In summary

From Late Middle English fetlen (“(verb) to bestow; to fix, prepare, put in place; to prepare (oneself) for battle, gird up; to shape; to be about to, or to ready (oneself) to stay; (adjective) shaped (well or poorly)”) [and other forms], which possibly:
* from Old English fetel (“belt, girdle, fettle”), from Proto-Germanic *fatilaz, further etymology unknown; or
* from Old English fetian (“to fetch”), from Proto-Germanic *fatōną, *fatjaną (“to fetch”), from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“foot”).
Compare Old English ġefetelsod (“provided with a belt; trimmed, polished, ornamented”).