titubate, v. rare.
(ˈtɪtjʊbeɪt)
[f. L. tibubāt-, ppl. stem of titubāre to stagger. (See note to titubancy.)]
1. intr. To stagger, reel, totter, stumble; to rock, roll.
| 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 24 His mare in hiz manage did a littl so titubate, that mooch a doo had hiz manhod to sit in his sadl, & too scape the foyl of a fall. 1715 tr. Gregory's Astron. i. (1726) I. 149 At least it [the Sun] ought to titubate or reel as it were, being sometimes attracted more this way, sometimes more that way, according as more Planets happen to come together on the same side. 1854 Badham Halieut. 530 As neither servants nor links were allowed, it was unpleasant to go titubating home in the dark. 1879 Webster Suppl., Titubate, to rock, or roll, as a curved body on a plane. |
2. fig. To stammer; to falter in speaking.
[Cf. Ovid. A.A. i. 598 titubat lingua.]
| 1623 Cockeram, Titubate, to stammer in speaking. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Titubate,..by metaphor to stutter or stammer in speaking. 1820 L. Hunt Indicator No. 53 (1822) II. 6 His voice a little titubating with wine. |
Hence ˈtitubating ppl. a.
| 1653 Waterhouse Apol. Learn. 29 But what became of this titubating..mountain of snow? 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 87 A titubating gait. |