fettle

Meanings

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.

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

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”).