▪ I. † ˈshittle, a. Obs.
Forms: 5 schytylle, -ttyl, schityl, 6 shyttell, -ttle, 6–7 shittle, shet(t)le, (9 dial.) shuttle (see shuttle a.), 7 shickle.
[App. repr. an OE. *scytel:—prehist. *skutil, f. *skut- wk. grade of the root of shoot v.]
a. Of persons and their faculties: Inconstant, variable, wavering; fickle, flighty.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 444/2 Schey, or skey, as hors, or styȝtyl (S. schyttyl, P. styrtyll). Schytylle, styrtyl, or hasty (K. schityl, on stabyl), preceps. 1530 Palsgr. 323/2 Shyttell nat constant, variable. 1563 Mirr. Mag., Collingbourne iii, We passe not what the people saye or thynke, Theyr shyttle hate maketh none but cowardes shrinke. 1576 Newton Lemnie's Complex. ii. ii. 97 All which do signify a shuttle waueryng nature, & a mynde subiect to great mutability and vnconstancy. 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. cviii. 662 But our wits are so shettle that we be stil hearkening after this and that. 1589 Nashe Pasquil's Ret. D iiij, A lyer must haue no shetle memory. 1603 H. Crosse Vertues Commw. (1878) 61 There be some that haue such wandring wittes and shittle heads, that neuer rest till they haue assaied all meanes. 1610 R. Tofte Honours Acad. To Rdr. ¶5 Who knowes not when ought well is, or amis, Of shallowe shickle Braine, a token is. 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. i. i. 6 The dull brain, the shickle memory. 1638 Heywood Wise Wom. iii. i, To have my shittle-wits runne a wooll-gathering already? 1650 H. More Observ. 79 Did your Sculler, or shittle Skull ever arrive at that Rock of Crystall you boast of? |
b. Of things: Shaky, unstable.
| 1601 Holland Pliny xviii. xiv. I. 571 The stalke is very shittle in mowing, and therefore flyeth from the edge of the syth. a 1623 W. Pemble Salomon's Recant. (1627) 5 The Waters, a shuttle and running substance. |
c. Comb.: shittle-brained, -headed, -witted adjs.
| 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 277 A light or *shuttle-brained fellow. |
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Volage, a *shittle headed fellow, an inconstant man. 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. xxiii. 137 If wee goe this way to worke..we shall not be so shettleheaded as wee bee. 1607 Middleton Five Gallants iv. vii. G 3, Was euer mistris so plaugd with a shetle-headed seruant. |
| 1448 Marg. Paston in P. Lett. I. 69, I am aferd that Jon of Sparham is so *schyttyl wyttyd, that he wyl sett hys gode to morgage. 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades iii. v. 330 They therfore are very fooles..or to vse a more gentle terme, they are shuttle witted. 1613 J. Tapp Pathw. Knowl. 36 See how shittle witted I am, for..I had forgotten it till now. |
Hence † ˈshittleness.
| 1530 Palsgr. 267/1 Shyttelnesse, uariableté. 1573 Baret Alv. S 321 The vaine Shittlenesse of an vnconstant head. 1647 Hexham i, Shittlenesse, ongestadigheyt. |
▪ II. shittle, -cock
see shuttle, -cock.