loiter
UK /ˈlɔɪtə(ɹ)/ · US /ˈlɔɪtɚ/ verb, noun
Forms loiters loitering loitered
- verb (intransitive) To stand about without any aim or purpose; to stand about idly. “For some reason, they discourage loitering outside the store, but encourage it inside.”
- verb (archaic, intransitive) To stroll about without any aim or purpose, to ramble, to wander.
- verb (intransitive) To remain at a certain place instead of moving on.
- verb (military, aviation, intransitive) Of an aircraft, to remain in the air near a target.
- noun A standing or strolling about without any aim or purpose.
Synonyms
lepak linger hang around arse about arse around bludge bum around cabbage clown around dally dawdle dick about dick around diddle dilly-dally dretch drumble faff faff about faff around lounge footle lollygag loaf lallygag mess about tarry lurk mill about mill around
Antonyms
energize leave make a move scraffle scramble take action work
Etymology
From Middle English loitren, from Middle Dutch loteren ("to shake, wag, wobble"; > modern Dutch leuteren (“to dawdle, ramble”)), ultimately connected with a frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *lūtaną (“to bend, stoop, cower, shrink from, decline”), see lout. Cognate with Dutch leuteren (“to dawdle”), Alemannic German lottern (“to wobble”), German lottern (“live a slovenly life”). More at lout, little.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To be slow in moving; to delay; to linger; to be dilatory; to spend time idly; to saunter; to lag behind.
- verb To wander as an idle vagrant. [Obs.] Spenser.
Etymology [D. leuteren to delay, loiter; cf; Prov. G. lottern to be louse, lotter louse, slack, unsettled, vagrant, OHG. lotar.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “loiter”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details