Adjacent Words

Totter definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

TOT'TER, v.i. [This may be allied to titter.]
1. To shake so as to threaten a fall; to vacillate; as, an old man totters with age; a child totters when he beings to walk.
2. To shake; to reel; to lean.
As a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence. Psalms 62.
Troy nods from high, and totters to her fall.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: move without being stable, as if threatening to fall; "The drunk man tottered over to our table"
2: walk unsteadily; "small children toddle" [syn: toddle, coggle, totter, dodder, paddle, waddle]
3: move unsteadily, with a rocking motion [syn: teeter, seesaw, totter]

Merriam Webster's

I. intransitive verb Etymology: Middle English toteren Date: 15th century 1. a. to tremble or rock as if about to fall ; sway b. to become unstable ; threaten to collapse 2. to move unsteadily ; stagger, wobble II. noun Date: 1747 an unsteady gait ; wobble

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.intr. 1 stand or walk unsteadily or feebly (tottered out of the pub). 2 a (of a building etc.) shake or rock as if about to collapse. b (of a system of government etc.) be about to fall. --n. an unsteady or shaky movement or gait. Derivatives: totterer n. tottery adj. Etymology: ME f. MDu. touteren to swing

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Totter Tot"ter, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Tottered; p. pr. & vb. n. Tottering.] [Probably for older tolter; cf. AS. tealtrian to totter, vacillate. Cf.Tilt to incline, Toddle, Tottle, Totty.] 1. To shake so as to threaten a fall; to vacillate; to be unsteady; to stagger; as,an old man totters with age. ``As a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.'' --Ps. lxii. 3. 2. To shake; to reel; to lean; to waver. Troy nods from high, and totters to her fall. --Dryden.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(totters, tottering, tottered) 1. If someone totters somewhere, they walk there in an unsteady way, for example because they are ill or drunk. He tottered to the fridge, got a beer and slumped at the table... VERB: V prep/adv 2. If something such as a market or government is tottering, it is weak and likely to collapse or fail completely. The property market is tottering. ...further criticism of the tottering government. VERB: V, V-ing

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. n. 1. Stagger, reel, vacillate, falter. 2. Shake, tremble, oscillate, rock, threaten to fall, reel, lean, waver.

Moby Thesaurus

age, alternate, amble, back and fill, barge, blunder, bowl along, break down, bundle, capsize, careen, career, cave in, change, cheat the undertaker, claudicate, clump, collapse, come a cropper, cower, crawl, creep, decline, dither, dodder, dogtrot, drag, drag along, drag out, droop, ebb and flow, equivocate, fade, fail, fall, fall down, fall flat, fall headlong, fall in, fall over, fall prostrate, falter, flounce, flounder, fluctuate, foot, footslog, founder, gait, gallop, get a cropper, get along, get on, go dead slow, go slow, go through phases, grow old, halt, hippety-hop, hitch, hobble, hop, idle, inch, inch along, jog, jog-trot, jolt, jump, labor, laze, limp, list, lock step, lumber, lunge, lurch, mince, mincing steps, mosey, oscillate, pace, paddle, peg, pendulate, piaffe, piaffer, pitch, pitch and plunge, plod, plunge, poke, poke along, prance, quake, quiver, rack, reel, ring the changes, rock, roll, sashay, saunter, scuff, scuffle, scuttle, seesaw, seethe, shake, shamble, shift, shilly-shally, shimmy, shiver, shrivel, shuffle, shuffle along, sidle, single-foot, sink, skip, slink, slither, slog, slouch, slowness, sprawl, spread-eagle, stagger, stagger along, stalk, stammer, stamp, step, stomp, straddle, straggle, stride, stroll, strolling gait, struggle, strut, stumble, stump, swagger, sway, swing, take a fall, take a flop, take a header, take a pratfall, take a spill, teeter, teeter-totter, tergiversate, thrash about, tilt, tittup, toddle, toddle along, topple, topple over, toss, toss and tumble, toss and turn, totter along, traipse, tread, tremble, trip, trot, trudge, tumble, turn, turn gray, turn turtle, turn white, vacillate, vary, velocity, volutation, waddle, walk, wallop, wallow, wamble, wane, waste away, waver, wax and wane, welter, wheel, wiggle, wither, wizen, wobble, worm, worm along, wrinkle