Totter
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
totter¹
- /ˈtɒtə/ UK
- /ˈtɑtɚ/ US
Rhymes with -ɒtə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
From Middle English totren, toteren, from earlier *tolteren (compare dialectal English tolter (“to struggle, flounder”); Scots tolter (“unstable, wonky”)), from Old English tealtrian (“to totter, vacillate”), from Proto-Germanic *taltrōną, a frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *taltōną (“to sway, dangle, hesitate”), from Proto-Indo-European *del-, *dul- (“to shake, hesitate”).
Cognate with Dutch touteren (“to tremble”), Norwegian dialectal totra (“to quiver, shake”), North Frisian talt, tolt (“unstable, shaky”). Related to tilt.
verb totters · tottering · tottered
- To walk, move or stand unsteadily or falteringly; threatening to fall. The baby tottered from the table to the chair.
- To be on the brink of collapse. […]the folly of this Iland, they ſay there's but fiue vpon this Iſle ; we are three of them, if th' other two be brain'd like vs, the State totters.
- To collect junk or scrap.
noun totters
- An unsteady movement or gait.
- A rag and bone man.
Totter²
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Austrian German Totter.
proper noun Totters
- A surname from German.
