Totter definition
To walk unsteadily or feebly; stagger.
verb
To sway as if about to fall.
verb
To appear about to collapse.
An empire that had begun to totter.
verb
To proceed with feeble, unsure steps.
verb
To rock or shake as if about to fall; be unsteady.
verb
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To be on the point of failure or collapse.
verb
An unsteady walk or movement.
noun
(archaic) A rag and bone man.
noun
The baby tottered from the table to the chair.
The old man tottered out of the pub into the street.
The car tottered on the edge of the cliff.
verb
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The act or condition of tottering.
noun
Origin of totter
- Middle English toteren perhaps of Scandinavian origin
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- From Middle English totren, toteren, from earlier *tolteren (compare English dialectal tolter (“to struggle, flounder"); Scots tolter (“unstable, wonky")), from Old English tealtrian (“to totter, vacillate"), from Proto-Germanic *taltrōnÄ…, *taltōnÄ… (“to sway, dangle, hesitate"), from Proto-Indo-European *del-, *dul- (“to shake, hesitate"). Cognate with Dutch touteren (“to tremble"), North Frisian talt, tolt (“unstable, shaky"). Related to tilt.
From Wiktionary