Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
FETTLE
fettle
(noun) a state of fitness and good health; “in fine fettle”
fettle
(verb) remove mold marks or sand from (a casting)
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
fettle (plural fettles)
A state of proper physical condition; kilter or trim.
One's mental state; spirits.
Sand used to line a furnace.
(Geordie, Cumbria) A person's mood or state, often assuming the worst.
(ceramics) a seam line left by the meeting of mold pieces.
(UK, dialect) The act of fettling.
Usage notes
Outside of dialects, this term is a fossil, found only in the phrase in fine fettle.
Verb
fettle (third-person singular simple present fettles, present participle fettling, simple past and past participle fettled)
(Northern England) To sort out, to fix, to mend, to repair.
(intransitive) To make preparations; to put things in order; to do trifling business.
(transitive) To line the hearth of a furnace with sand prior to pouring molten metal.
(reflexive, Geordie) To be upset or in a bad mood.
In ceramics, to remove (as by sanding) the seam lines left by the meeting of two molds.
(transitive, archaic) To prepare.
Source: Wiktionary
Fet"tle, v. t. Etym: [OE. & Prov. E., to fettle (in sense 1), fettle, n., order, repair, preparation, dress; prob. akin to E. fit. See Fit, a.]
Definition: 1. To repair; to prepare; to put in order. [Prov. Eng.] Carlyle.
2. (Metal.)
Definition: To cover or line with a mixture of ore, cinders, etc., as the hearth of a puddling furnace.
Fet"tle, v. i.
Definition: To make preparations; to put things in order; to do trifling business. [Prov. Eng.] Bp. Hall.
Fet"tle, n.
Definition: The act of fettling. [Prov. Eng.] Wright. In fine fettle, in good spirits.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
25 November 2024
ONCHOCERCIASIS
(noun) infestation with slender threadlike roundworms (filaria) deposited under the skin by the bite of black fleas; when the eyes are involved it can result in blindness; common in Africa and tropical America
Coffee Trivia
