▪ I. pother, n.
(ˈpɒðə(r), ˈpʌðə(r))
Forms: α. 7– pother; also (7 powther), 7–9 puther, 7 (9 dial.) poother. β. 7– pudder.
[Origin unknown: appears early in 17th c. Historically pother rimes with other, brother, mother, smother, the vowel app. repr. orig. (oː); so the dial. puther, pudder. The current (ˈpɒðə(r)) appears to be a 19th c. literary innovation, after the spelling, and perh. influenced by association with bother. The form pudder is parallel to the dial. udder, brudder, mudder, fadder, etc. in some of which (d), in others (ð), is original.
Original identity with powder, though suggested by the sense ‘dust’, appears to be phonetically untenable.]
1. A choking smoke or atmosphere of dust. to kick up a pother, to raise a choking dust.
| α 1627 Drayton Nymphidia lxxxii, The Poke Which out of it sent such a smoke, As ready was them all to choke, So greeuous was the pother. 1637 G. Daniel Genius of Isle 158, I, in this smoaking pother, Had sole the want. 1886 Cheshire Gloss. s.v. Poother, What a poother tha kicks up wi' thi brush! [i.e. in sweeping a room]. 1887 T. Darlington S. Chesh. Gloss. s.v., A puff of tobacco smoke directed into a person's face would be a poother. 1893 Baring-Gould Mrs. Curgenven xlvi, There be such a pother o' smoke I doubt if that you can see her. |
| β 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. 4 To lay the dust and pudder in antiquity, which he and his..are wont to raise. |
2. a. Disturbance, commotion, turmoil, bustle; a tumult, uproar; a noise, din. Cf. dust n.1 5.
| α 1591 Sylvester Ivry 71 As a Torrent..in his furious Pother Takes Land from som, and giveth more to other. 1607 Shakes. Cor. (1623) ii. i. 234 Such a poother, As if that whatsoeuer God, who leades him, Were slyly crept into his humane powers, And gaue him gracefull posture. 1682 N. O. Boileau's Lutrin ii. 249 But Oh! these Chanters, Chanons make a Pother, A Dog can't rest, whilst one worries another. 1709 O. Dykes Eng. Prov. & Refl. (ed. 2) 308 What a Noise and Pother do our Hawkers make in a Hurry about the Streets with their News-Books. a 1849 Hor. Smith Addr. Mummy x, Didst thou not hear the pother o'er thy head When the great Persian Conqueror, Cambyses Marched armies o'er thy tomb with thundering tread? 1898 F. T. Bullen Cruise Cachalot 72 Smiting the sea with his mighty tail, making an almost deafening noise and pother. |
| β 1623 Shaks.'s Wks., Lear iii. ii. 50 Let the great Goddes, That keepe this dreadfull pudder [Qos. 1. 3 thundring; Qo. 2 powther] o're our heads, Finde out their enemies now. 1657 Thornley tr. Longus' Daphnis & Chloe 189 A busie noise, tumultuous pudder of carriages. 1671 Crowne Juliana i. 4 Here's a pudder, ho! see if none of my cups or silver spoons be missing. 1673 in Halliwell Pal. Anthol. (1850) 109 'Twas uncivilly done Such a hideous pudder to keep. 1816 Scott Antiq. xv, The pony, hearing this pudder over his head, began apparently to think [etc.]. 1956 Auden & Kallman Magic Flute i. iv. 32 (From within the temple comes the sound of singing.).. What's that? What's that pudder? I shiver, I shudder. |
b. transf. A verbal commotion, stir, or fuss.
| α 1631 Massinger Emperor East iv. v, All this pother for an apple! 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 481 When Heathen Authority hath kept all the Puther it can, with their Amphion and Orpheus. 1663 Butler Hud. i. i. 32 Some hold the one, and some the other, But, howsoe'er they make a Pother, The difference was so small. 1783 Trifler No. 13. 175 Your Sister too would make a pother, She'd never brook to call him Brother. 1850 Blackie æschylus I. Pref. 57 With high-sounding words he will make such a pother. |
| β 1609 Bp. W. Barlow Answ. Nameless Cath. 23 In this pudder of different opinions, recourse is had to the Great Oracle. 1759 Sterne Tr. Shandy II. ii, What a pudder and racket in Councils about οὐσια and ὑποστασις! 1858 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. I. lvii. 223 A mortal pudder has been raised against so harmless a proposal, as that the community should have the relief [etc.]. |
3. Mental perturbation or tumult; trouble, fuss; display of sorrow or grief.
| 1641 Milton Reform. i. Wks. 1851 III. 3 Being scarr'd..by the pangs, and gripes of a boyling conscience, all in a pudder shuffles up to himselfe such a God, and such a worship as is most agreeable to remedy his feare. 1656 S. Holland Zara (1719) 34 Of Sorrow, making a most grievous puther [rime Mother]. 1738 Gentl. Mag. VIII. 43/1 Well! if all husbands keep so great a pother, I'll live unmarried—till I get another. 1822 Hazlitt Table-t. Ser. ii. vii. (1869) 143 This coil and mighty pudder in the breast. |
▪ II. pother, v.
(ˈpɒðə(r), ˈpʌðə(r))
Also 7 pudder, 9 dial. puther.
[app. f. pother n.; but sometimes app. associated with bother v.]
1. trans. To put into a fuss; to fluster, worry; to confuse, perplex, trouble.
| α 1692 Locke Educ. §72 If at that Time he forces himself to it, he only pothers and wearies himself to no purpose. 1795 Birch Adopted Child i. ii, At his old employment, his pencils and his compasses, and I don't know what, pothering his poor little brains. 1860 Emerson Cond. Life, Wealth Wks. (Bohn) II. 359 But how can Cockayne..be pothered with fatting..oxen? 1904 M. Hewlett Queen's Quair ii. x. 324 Sir James all pothered to reply; rare for him. |
| β c 1698 Locke Cond. Underst. §13 He..will abound in contrary Observations, that can be of no other Use but to perplex and pudder him if he compares them. |
b. To get out by worrying.
| 1740 J. Clarke Educ. Youth (ed. 3) 167 He must pother the Meaning..out of a Dictionary. |
2. intr. To make a fuss; to fuss, to worry.
| 1735 Savage Progr. Divine 361 Detach the sense, and pother o'er the text. 1778 Learning at a Loss I. 32, I found the old Gentleman..pothering over the Newspaper. 1895 R. Burton in Forum (N.Y.) Apr. 251 It is idle to pother with secondary causes when here is the native source. |
3. dial. To move, pour, or roll in a cloud, as smoke or dust.
Widely used in midland dialects from Yorksh. to Warwick, Leicester, Lincoln: see Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v. Puther. Hence perh. pothering in 19th c. quots. below.
Hence ˈpothering vbl. n. and ppl. a.; also potheˈration (nonce-wd. after botheration), stir, turmoil, trouble; ˈpotherment, dial. petty trouble.
| 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iv. iii. §30 That perplexity, puddering, and confusion, which has so much hindred Mens progress in other parts of Knowledge. 1791–1823 D'Israeli Cur. Lit. (1866) 269/1 A multitude confused of pothering odours. 1827 Hare Guesses Ser. i. (1873) 229 The words of their [Irish] orators are wont to roll out just like so many potatoes..rumbling, and pothering and incoherent. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., Potherments, perplexities, troubles. 1901 Essex Herald 9 Apr. 2/5 All the potheration had been purposely caused by the master of the house. |