totter

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, dodder, paddle, waddle]

3 move unsteadily, with a rocking motion [syn: teeter, seesaw]

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) /ˈtɒtə/, /"tQt@/
• (US) /ˈtɑːtɚ/, /"tA:t@`/

  Rhymes: -ɒtə(r)

Noun

totter

1. a rag and bone man.

Noun

totter

1. a very cool person

Verb

to totter

1. to walk,move or stand unsteadily or falteringly; threatening to fall

   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.

2. (archaic) to collect junk or scrap

Synonyms

"move unsteady"

• teeter
• toddle

Related terms

teeter-totter

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