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Definition of Totter
1. Verb. Move without being stable, as if threatening to fall. "The drunk man tottered over to our table"
2. Verb. Walk unsteadily. "The children totter to the playground"; "Small children toddle"
Generic synonyms: Walk
Derivative terms: Dodderer, Toddler, Totterer, Waddle, Waddler
3. Verb. Move unsteadily, with a rocking motion.
Definition of Totter
1. v. i. To shake so as to threaten a fall; to vacillate; to be unsteady; to stagger; as, an old man totters with age.
Definition of Totter
1. Noun. an unsteady movement or gait ¹
2. Noun. (archaic) A rag and bone man. ¹
3. Verb. To walk,move or stand unsteadily or falteringly; threatening to fall. ¹
4. Verb. (archaic intransitive) To collect junk or scrap. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Totter
1. to walk unsteadily [v -ED, -ING, -S]
Lexicographical Neighbors of Totter
Literary usage of Totter
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. English Synonyms Explained, in Alphabetical Order: With Copious by George Crabb (1818)
"totter most probably comes from the German zittern to tremble, ' because to «otter
is a tremulous action. All these terms designate an involuntary and an ..."
2. A Dictionary of English Etymology by Hensleigh Wedgwood (1865)
"To jut, hit or strike against.—Baret. 1580. So from totter is developed ...
used in Northampton in the sense of jog-, totter, move heavily and clumsily. ..."
3. The Art of Worldly Wisdom by Baltasar Gracián y Morales, Joseph Jacobs (1892)
"So too the pompous speak with an echo, and as their talk can only totter on with
the aid of stilts, at every word they need the support of a stupid " bravo ..."
4. Diary of the American Revolution: From Newspapers and Original Documents by Frank Moore (1860)
"... spirit of independence would suffer matters to be carried to such extremities,
as make all prudent inhabitants fear that our parchment will soon totter. ..."
5. Children's Story-sermons by Hugh Thomson Kerr (1911)
"LXXVI Teeter-totter I SUPPOSE none of you ... It is a great game, this teeter-totter,
and it is a good deal like the bigger game of life which all of us are ..."
6. A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1850)
"(6) To totter. Exmoor. TILTER. (1) Order. Suffolk. See Fairfax Bulk and Selvedge,
12mo. 1674, p. 75. (2) A sword. A cant term. TILTH. ..."
7. The African Repository by American Colonization Society (1845)
"... now being erected, will totter beneath its own weight, and perhaps finally
fall from the continual additions of rubbish which are being heaped upon it. ..."
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