different between fettle vs mettle

English

Etymology

From Middle English fetlen (“to ready, fix, arrange, prepare”), of obscure origin. Perhaps from Old English fetian (“to fetch”) or from Old English fetel (“belt, girdle”). Compare Old English ?efetelsod (“provided with a belt; trimmed, polished, ornamented”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?f?t?l/
• Rhymes: -?t?l

Noun

fettle (plural fettles)

1. A state of proper physical condition; kilter or trim.
2. One's mental state; spirits.
3. Sand used to line a furnace.
4. (Tyneside, Cumbria) A person's mood or state, often assuming the worst.

   What's yer fettle marra?

5. (ceramics) a seam line left by the meeting of mold pieces.
6. (Britain, dialect) The act of fettling.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Wright to this entry?)

Usage notes

Outside of dialects, this term is a fossil, found only in the phrase in fine fettle.

Derived terms

• in fine fettle

Translations

Verb

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

1. (Northern England) To sort out, to fix, to mend, to repair.
   • 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, Capricornia, Chapter VI, p. 83, [1]

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

2. (intransitive) To make preparations; to put things in order; to do trifling business.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Bishop Hall to this entry?)

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

   Divint fettle yersel ower that!

5. In ceramics, to remove (as by sanding) the seam lines left by the meeting of two molds.
6. (transitive, archaic) To prepare.

Derived terms

• fettler
• fettling

Translations

See also

• fash

References

• fettle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin, [2]
• Frank Graham (1987) The New Geordie Dictionary, ?ISBN
• Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
• A List of words and phrases in everyday use by the natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham, F.M.T.Palgrave, English Dialect Society vol.74, 1896, [3]
• Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977[4]

English

Etymology

1580s, originally a variant of metal, which had a figurative sense until the early 18th century.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?m?t.l?/, /?m?.t?l/
• Rhymes: -?t?l
• Homophones: metal, medal, meddle (in accents with flapping)

Noun

mettle (usually uncountable, plural mettles)

1. A quality of endurance and courage.

   Synonyms: courage, heart, spirit

   • 2001, Harry J. Alexandrowicz, Testing your Mettle: Tough Problems and Real-world Solutions for Middle and High School Teachers, page xiii

     Please read on and discover the issues in education that test the mettle of those who experience this world every day.
2. Good temperament and character.
3. (obsolete) Metal; a metallic substance.

Derived terms

• mettlesome

Translations

References