loiter
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈlɔɪtə(ɹ)/
ipa: /ˈlɔɪtɚ/
ipa: [ˈlɔɪɾɚ]
rhymes: -ɔɪtə(ɹ)
Forms: form: loiters
form: loitering
form: loitered
form: loitered
Etymology: 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 Lotterbube (“rascal”). More at lout, little.
Senses: examples: text: For some reason, they discourage loitering outside the store, but encourage it inside.
synonyms: word: lepak
word: linger
word: hang around
glosses: To stand about without any aim or purpose; to stand about idly.
examples: text: With weary steps I loiter on,
⁠Tho’ always under alter’d skies
⁠The purple from the distance dies,
My prospect and horizon gone.
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXXVIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 59:
glosses: To stroll about without any aim or purpose, to ramble, to wander.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter V, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 47:
text: For on what does the whole vast and varied membership of the craft rest? It rests, of course, on the little boys whom you see any day loitering about on the far end of station platforms in every part of the British Isles, each one with his grubby notebook and blunt pencil, and his list of all the engines on the railway system, collecting their numbers and names in the vain hope that one day he will have collected them all.
ref: 1948 September and October, Canon Roger Lloyd, “The Art and Mystery of the Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 331:
text: [Sergio] Agüero, as usual, was loitering with intent and swung his left foot at the ball. The shot was going wide but [David] Silva was there to apply the decisive touch inside the six-yard area.
ref: 2015 January 31, Daniel Taylor, “David Silva seizes point for Manchester City as Chelsea are checked”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 08 Mar 2017:
text: Using the transect method, the counter had to maintain a general progress along the transect and was not able to loiter at one spot for too long.
ref: 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 4:
glosses: To remain at a certain place instead of moving on.
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
government
military
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
war
glosses: For an aircraft to remain in the air near a target.
Synonyms: word: arse about
word: arse around
word: bludge
word: bum around
word: cabbage
word: clown around
word: dally
word: dawdle
word: dick about
word: dick around
word: diddle
word: dilly-dally
word: dretch
word: drumble
word: faff
word: faff about
word: faff around
word: fanny about
word: fanny around
word: fart about
word: fart around
word: fiddle about
word: fiddle around
word: fool about
word: fool around
word: footle
word: forslow
word: goof around
word: goof off
word: hang about
word: hang around
word: hang out
word: horse around
word: idle
word: jerk off
word: lallygag
word: lamp
word: laze
word: laze about
word: laze around
word: linger
word: loaf
word: loaf about
word: loaf around
word: loiter
word: lollop
word: lollygag
word: mess around
word: mill about
word: mill around
word: muck about
word: muck around
word: piddle
word: pingle
word: stand by
word: tarry
word: tool around
word: waste time
word: while
Hypernyms: word: move slowly
Hyponyms: word: dandle
word: daydream
word: doodle
word: doze
word: doze off
word: fall asleep
word: lounge
word: nap
word: procrastinate
word: relax
word: space out
word: stone
word: trifle
word: tune out
word: veg out
word: wander
word: woolgather
word: zone
word: zone out
Derived terms: sense: From the verb or the noun loiter
word: antiloitering
sense: From the verb or the noun loiter
word: Floyder
sense: From the verb or the noun loiter
word: loiterature
sense: From the verb or the noun loiter
word: loiterer
sense: From the verb or the noun loiter
word: loiteringly
sense: From the verb or the noun loiter
word: loitering munition
sense: From the verb or the noun loiter
word: loiter munition
sense: From the verb or the noun loiter
word: loitering → loiteringly
sense: From the verb or the noun loiter
word: loiter-sack
sense: From the verb or the noun loiter
word: loiter time
Related terms: word: build castles in the air
word: carpe diem cras
word: time bandit
word: time burglar
word: time thief
word: idler
word: lazy
word: shirk