Ettle

//ˈɛtl// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Intention; intent; aim. Scotland, dialectal
Verb
  1. 1
    To propose, intend. Ireland, Northern-England, Scotland, transitive
  2. 2
    To earn. obsolete
  3. 3
    To direct one's course, to head. Ireland, Northern-England, Scotland, archaic, intransitive

    "The Siloam nosed and ettled into the grey sprawl of waves and sent up arcs of swift stinging spray."

  4. 4
    To direct (something) to or at someone or something; to aim at. Ireland, Northern-England, Scotland, intransitive
  5. 5
    To strive, to try. Ireland, Northern-England, Scotland, intransitive

Synonyms

All synonyms
aimmintmint

Example

More examples

"The Siloam nosed and ettled into the grey sprawl of waves and sent up arcs of swift stinging spray."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English etlien, atlien, from Old Norse ætla (“to think, mean, suppose, intend, purpose”), from Proto-Germanic *ahtalōną (“to strive, think”), from Proto-Indo-European *ok- (“to think, intend, purpose”). Cognate with regional Swedish ättla (“to count, reckon”). Some Middle English forms perhaps remodelled after Old English eaht.

Etymology 2

A variation of addle (“to earn”).

Related phrases

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.