Dictionary

fettler en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From fettle + -er.

Meanings

1. A person who maintains railway lines.
   • 1939, Comrade Fettler (a Union song about Fettlers)http://unionsong.com/u266.html The summer brings its nursery, with dust and sandy blight But the Fettler must keep toiling, to keep the track alright.
   • Sometimes the engine stopped for water, or to drop stores at fettlers' camps, or to accumulate the steam to take it up a heavy grade. 1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter VI, in Capricornia, page 79:
2. Someone whose job is to sand and grind small imperfections from metal and ceramic castings.
3. (broadly) Someone who fiddles or tinkers with things.
4. (UK, qualifier:Lancashire, slang) A friend or mate.
   • How's tha' doing fettler?
5. (historical) An ostler; one who looks after the horses in a mine.

Forms