▪ I. loiter, n. rare—1.
(ˈlɔɪtə(r))
[f. loiter v.]
The action of loitering; an instance of this.
| 1876 T. Hardy Ethelberta (1890) 314 Picotee..moved on in a manner intended to efface the lover's loiter of the preceding moments from her own consciousness. |
▪ II. loiter, v.
(ˈlɔɪtə(r))
Forms: 4 (? loltre or loitre), lotere, 5 loytron, 6 loyeter, loytre, lowtre, lewtre, leut(e)re, 6–8 loyter, 6– loiter.
[a. MDu. loteren to wag about (like a loose tooth), Du. leuteren to shake, totter, Naut. (of a sail) to ‘shiver’; also, to dawdle, loiter over one's work; cf. WFlem. lutteren, EFris. löteren, of similar meaning. For the development of sense cf. the fig. uses of loose, unsteady. The sense which the word has in Eng. has not been found in Du. earlier than the 16th c., but may be much older in slang use; the word was prob. introduced into England by foreign ‘loiterers’ or vagrants. The same root is found in MDu. lutsen to wag about.
The diphthong in the first syll. is a substitution for the unfamiliar vowel of the Du. word, which was prob. ({obar}ː) (as in mod. pronunciation) or nearly so.
In the first quot. below, the form loltrande may be genuine; if so it represents a distinct word, f. the root of loll v.]
1. intr. a. In early use: To idle, waste one's time in idleness. Now only with more specific meaning: To linger indolently on the way when sent on an errand or when making a journey; to linger idly about a place; to waste time when engaged in some particular task, to dawdle. Freq. in legal phr. to loiter with intent (to commit a felony).
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 458 Þenne was þe gome so glad of his gay logge, Lys loltrande [Morris conjectures loitrande] þer-inne, lokande to toune. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 311/1 Loytron, or byn ydyl, ocior. 1482 Trevisa's Higden (Caxton) ii. v. 77 He slough caym that loyterd [Trevisa: loted] amonge the busshes. 1530 Palsgr. 613/1 He loytreth aboute lyke a maysterlesse hounde. Ibid. 613/2 And you sende hym, he wyll sure loyter somewhere by the waye. c 1540 Hye way to Spyttel Ho. 143 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 29 Lowtryng, and wandryng fro place to place. 1553 Primer in Liturgies, etc. Edw. VI (Parker Soc.) 472 Laboured nothing at all, but went abroad loitering idly. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. i. 198 Sir John, you loyter heere too long. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. ii. iv. (1651) 277 Some of them do nought but loyter all the week long. 1660 Wood Life Dec. (O.H.S.) I. 359 People might loyter about the streets in sermon time. 1697 Dryden æneid ii. 745 A Javelin threw, Which flutt'ring seemed to loiter as it flew. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 85 Nobody may loyter about in order to attempt it without instant suspicion. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 28 ¶4 That I loiter in the shop with my needle-work in my hand. 1814 Scott Wav. xxxix, Officers..loitered in the hall, as if waiting for orders. 1855 Tennyson Brook 181, I linger by my shingly bars; I loiter round my cresses. 1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. III. 8 These weak old men who loitered about. 1886 Pall Mall G. 18 June 3/2 Cabmen have had to pay..fines..for ‘loitering and obstructing’ the roads... To loiter, in cabman's English, means to ply for hire. 1891 Act 54 & 55 Vict. c. 69 §7 The provisions [shall be] applied also to every suspected person or reputed thief loitering about or in any of the said places and with the said intent. 1899 C. Rook Hooligan Nights i. 16 You get lagged for loiterin' wiv intent to commit a felony or some dam nonsense like that. 1952 Economist 26 Jan. 207/3 Montgomery is always suspected of loitering with intent. 1957 [see case v.2 5]. |
b. To travel or proceed indolently and with frequent pauses. With advs. or adverbial phrases.
| 1728 Pope Dunc. i. 228 Prose swell'd to verse, Verse loitring into prose. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France I. 1 We have lingered and loitered..from port to port. 1827–35 Willis Florence Gray 32, I loiter'd up the valley to a small and humbler ruin. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. xxxviii, With weary steps I loiter on. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xlviii. (1856) 445 From the 13th of July to the 13th of August we loitered along. 1860 Holland Miss Gilbert iv. 51 He loitered thoughtfully along the uneven highway. 1863 Hawthorne Our Old Home (1879) 115 The Avon loiters past the churchyard. |
2. trans. † a. To neglect (one's work). Obs. b. To allow (time, etc.) to pass idly; to waste carelessly or upon trifles. Obs. exc. with away; occas. with † out. † c. To postpone getting or giving (something). Obs.
| c 1540 Hye Way to Spyttel Ho. 871 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 62 But lye in bed,..Lewtryng theyr worke tyll it pas noone. 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Eph. Prol. {fatpara}ij, Be not of the nombre of those men, whiche..loyter the tyme..and do no good at all. 1550 Crowley Last Trump. 547 When thou art determined what knowledg thou wilt most apply, then let it not be loytered, but seke to get it spedily. 1589 Warner Alb. Eng. v. xxv. 111 To loyter well deserued gifts is not to giue but sell. 1680 Otway Orphan ii. i. (1691) 12 Not loyter out my life at home. 1689 Sherlock Death iii. §7 (1731) 210 These Men have loitered away the Day. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. v. 173 It would have been extreme imprudence..to have loitered away so much time. 1863 Lytton Caxtoniana I. 50 The little lake..on the banks of which I loitered out my schoolboy holidays. a 1903 Mod. We loitered away the rest of the day. |
3. Comb.: † loiter-sack, a lazy, lumpish fellow.
| 1594 Lyly Moth. Bomb. ii. ii, If the loiter-sacke bee gone springing into a taverne, I'le fetch him reeling out. |
▪ III. loiter
obs. form of lighter n.1