loiter
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loiter
- /ˈlɔɪtə(ɹ)/ UK
- /ˈlɔɪtɚ/ US
- [ˈlɔɪɾɚ] US
Rhymes with -ɔɪtə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
From Middle English loitren, from Middle Dutch loteren ("to shake, wag, wobble"; > modern Dutch leuteren (“to dawdle, ramble”)), ultimately connected with a frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *lūtaną (“to bend, stoop, cower, shrink from, decline”), see lout. Cognate with Dutch leuteren (“to dawdle”), Alemannic German lottern (“to wobble”), German lottern (“live a slovenly life”). More at lout, little.
verb loiters · loitering · loitered
- To stand about without any aim or purpose; to stand about idly. For some reason, they discourage loitering outside the store, but encourage it inside.
- To stroll about without any aim or purpose, to ramble, to wander. With weary steps I loiter on, Tho’ always under alter’d skies The purple from the distance dies, My prospect and horizon gone.
- To remain at a certain place instead of moving on. The dancing, which had been suspended, now recommenced with additional animation, and De Candale claimed Francesca's hand; but the rooms were crowded, and they stood for some time loitering on one of the terraces.
- Of an aircraft, to remain in the air near a target.
Similar: arse about, arse around, bludge, bum around, cabbage, clown around, dally, dawdle, dick about, dick around, diddle, dilly-dally
noun loiters
- A standing or strolling about without any aim or purpose. Oh, Sir, we just got up in the morning and had a loiter and a pipe on the green; then we got our breakfasts; […]
