▪ I. † pooter, n.1 Obs. rare.
[f. poot, pote v. + er1.]
= poting-stick, or poking-stick.
| 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. ix. xlvii. 218 Busks, Perrewigs, Maskes, Plumes of feathers fram'd, Supporters, Pooters, Fardingales aboue the Loynes to waire, That be she near so bomle-thin, yet she crosse-like seem's four-squaire. |
▪ II. pooter, n.2
(ˈpuːtə(r))
[f. the name of F. W. Poos (b. 1891), U.S. entomologist + -er1.]
A suction bottle for collecting insects, having one tube through which they are drawn into the bottle and another, protected by muslin or gauze, which is sucked.
| 1939 Amateur Entomologist Sept. 33 A coleopterist's sucking tube (a pooter) is useful when collecting large numbers. 1959 Southwood & Leston Land & Water Bugs 401 If the pooter is of standard size, say 3{pp} × 1{pp}, then when an empty bottle is needed, tap the glass sharply—so that the bugs fall to the bottom—remove the rubber bung and replace it with a cork. 1968 M. Tweedie Pleasure from Insects 115 Not all kinds of ants can be collected by the convenient tin-and-slate method, and a more usual way is to use an aspirator or ‘pooter’, a piece of entomological apparatus designed for collecting all sorts of small insects. 1982 Times 21 Aug. 20/1 When they get a catch the net is thrown over the head so that the fly hunters can suck out the flies into a pooter, a glass container. |
▪ III. pooter, v.
(ˈpuːtə(r))
[Etym. unknown.]
intr. To depart in a hurry; to hasten away. Also with off.
| 1907 Dialect Notes III. 196 Pooter,..to depart speedily. ‘I told him to git, and he just pooter, I can tell you.’ 1966 Punch 6 July 32/3 The ex-bookseller, his fortune depleted, is left on the last page pootering off to his ex-girl-friend. |