fettle

English

Etymology

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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛtl̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛtəl
• Hyphenation: fet‧tle

Noun

fettle (plural fettles)

1. A state of physical condition; kilter or trim.
   • 1979 August, P. R. G. Kennard, “Polish Steam Panorama”, in Railway World, page 421:

     These strong 2-8-2s […] appeared in good fettle, especially those shedded at Lublin and several arrivals and departures were photographed in the fine evening light.

2. One's mental state; spirits.
3. Sand used to line a furnace.
4. (ceramics) A seam line left by the meeting of mould pieces.
5. (UK, dialectal) The act of fettling.
6. (Cumbria, Geordie) A person's mood or state, often assuming the worst.

   What’s yer fettle marra?

Usage notes

Outside of dialects, this noun is a fossil, found only in the phrase in fine fettle; but the verb and the corresponding gerund remain in common use in British English (for example, "this will need a bit of fettling to get sorted").

Derived terms

• in fine fettle

Translations

state of physical condition — see also kilter,‎ trim

• Bulgarian: форма (bg) f (forma)
• Finnish: kunto (fi), veto (fi)
• German: Zustand (de) m, Form (de) f, Einklang (de) m

one’s mental state — see also spirits

• Bulgarian: състояние (bg) n (sǎstojanie)
• Finnish: kunto (fi)
• German: Zustand (de) m, Geisteszustand (de) m, Verfassung (de) f

sand to line a furnace

• German: Formsand m

person’s mood or state, often assuming the worst

• German: Zustand (de) m

seam line left by the meeting of mold pieces

• German: Grat (de) m

Verb

fettle (third-person singular simple present fettles, present participle fettling, simple past and past participle fettled)

2. (especially Northern England) To sort out, to fix, to mend, to repair.

   Coordinate terms: fiddle, fiddle with

   • 1858, Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II of Prussia:

     He is getting his saddle altered: fettling about this and that; does not consider what danger he is in.

   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter VI, in Capricornia‎^[1], page 83:

     For some time after the train had gone Oscar stood on the track conversing with members of the fettling gang […]

3. (intransitive) To make preparations; to put things in order; to do trifling business.
   • c. 1600, John Ayliffe, Satires:

     Nor list he now go whistling to the car,
     But sells his team , and fettleth to the war

4. (transitive) To line the hearth of a furnace with sand prior to pouring molten metal.
5. (reflexive, Geordie) To be upset or in a bad mood.

   Divint fettle yersel ower that!

6. (ceramics) To remove (as by sanding) the seam lines left by the meeting of two molds.
7. (transitive, engineering) To machine away seam lines or more generally to make small adjustments to a component or machine to improve its fit or operation.

   He wants to fettle his gearchange mechanism before the next competition.

8. (transitive, archaic) To prepare.
   • 1595, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet:

     But fettle your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next...

Derived terms

• fettler
• fettling
• refettle

Translations

to sort out, fix, mend or repair

• German: richten (de), reparieren (de), flicken (de)

to make preparations, put things in order or do trifling business

• German: ordnen (de), vorbereiten (de), arrangieren (de), prötteln

to line the hearth of a furnace with sand

• German: auskleiden (de), ausfüllen (de)

to remove seam lines left by the meeting of two molds

• German: beschroten, beschneiden (de), putzen (de)

See also

• fash

Further reading

• Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
• “fettle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Scott Dobson, Dick Irwin “fettle”, in Newcastle 1970s: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group‎^[2], archived from the original on 2024-09-05.
• Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977[3]
• Frank Graham, editor (1987), “FETTLE”, in The New Geordie Dictionary, Rothbury, Northumberland: Butler Publishing, →ISBN.
• “Fettle”, in Palgrave’s Word List: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group‎^[4], archived from the original on 2024-09-05, from F[rancis] M[ilnes] T[emple] Palgrave, A List of Words and Phrases in Everyday Use by the Natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham […] (Publications of the English Dialect Society; 74), London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press, 1896, →OCLC.