pottern.1
/ˈpɒtə/, U.S. /ˈpɑdər/ 1. † b. A maker of metal pots or vessels. Obsolete.
a. A person who makes earthenware pots or other ceramic ware; a worker in the pottery industry.Quot. c1250 is a late copy of a grant of land at Marchington, Staffordshire, made in 951.
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society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > producer > potter > [noun]
pottera1225
crockerc1315
pot-makera1399
turner1601
pot-baker1621
pot-founder1631
cloamer1659
thrower1744
ceramist1855
throwster1894
ceramicist1930
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > producer > makers of domestic utensils > [noun] > maker of pots or pans
pottera1225
pan-maker?c1475
a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 73 Ȝif he belæfð hal and ȝesund, ðe pottere hine deð ðar to ðe he iscapen was.
c1250 ( Bounds (Sawyer 557) in P. H. Sawyer Charters of Burton Abbey (1979) 17 Of stenges heale, on potteres lege.
?c1335 in W. Heuser Kildare-Gedichte (1904) 157 (MED) Hail be ȝe, potters, wiþ ȝur bole ax.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 22937 Als potter wit pottes dos Quen he his neu wessel fordos.
1413 Pilgr. Sowle (1483) iv. xxxvii. 84 More helply is a Carpenter or a potter than an Organer, a peynter or an ymager.
a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) ii. 9 As vessel of the pottere, thou sall thaim breke.
1597 T. Middleton Wisdome of Solomon Paraphr. xv. sig. S3v Thou a potter art, Tempring softe earth, making the clay to bow.
1606 G. Chapman Gentleman Vsher iv. sig. H He was a patterne for a Potter, Fit t'haue his picture stampt on a stone Iugge.
1658 E. Burrough Let. in Good Counsel & Advice Rejected (1659) 31 Thou and all mankind are as clay in the hand of the potter.
1686 A. Horneck Crucified Jesus xxv. 838 A Potter,..by the motion of his Wheel, and the activity of his hand, gives the Clay, what form and shape he pleases.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 142 A Kiln, such as the Potters burn in.
1771 in B. Franklin Writings I. 288 Her friends..persuaded her to marry another, one Rogers, a potter, which was done in my absence.
1812 T. Webster Let. 2 Aug. in H. C. Englefield Descr. Isle of Wight (1816) 210 The clay connected with this sand is frequently fit for the potter, and hence has been called the plastic clay.
1867 S. Smiles Huguenots Eng. & Ireland ii. 24 This wandering workman was no other than Bernard Palissy..more generally known as the great Potter.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 441/2 That they understood the potter's art and used flint arrow-heads is clearly proved by excavations at the sites of their pits.
1991 Southwest Winter 30/1 An accomplished potter, John also topped the counters with tiles he created.
2002 S. Goss Brit. Tea & Coffee Cups 8 The high lead content of the glaze was one of the worst health hazards faced by eighteenth- and nineteenth-century potters.
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1440 in W. H. Stevenson Rec. Borough Nottingham (1883) II. 172 (MED) Ricardus operaret cum praedicto Willelmo Langton in arte sua et facultate potter.
1443 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1898) I. 82 Willelmo Browne, potter, pro factura ij paten', 1 brasyn morter, 2 parvarum ollarum cum 17 libris eris, 12 s. 6 d.
1471 in J. Raine Fabric Rolls York Minster (1859) 75 (MED) Johanni Hoton, potter, pro factura vj bolstirs de ere pro iij campanis minoribus.
c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) i. 15 Ane pottar vil mak of ane masse of mettal, diuerse pottis, of defferent fassons.
2. English regional (northern). A (typically itinerant) trader in earthenware items; a pedlar who sells pots, etc. Also: a tramp, a vagrant. Now rare.
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society > trade and finance > selling > seller > sellers of specific things > [noun] > seller of dishes or pots
disher1304
pottera1525
pigger1608
pigman1681
crateman1686
crockman1851
society > travel > aspects of travel > travel from place to place > [noun] > without fixed aim or wandering > vagrancy or vagabondage > vagabond or tramp
harlot?c1225
raikera1400
vacabond1404
vagrant1444
gangrela1450
briber?c1475
palliard1484
vagabondc1485
rogue1489
wavenger1493
hermit1495
gaberlunzie1508
knight of the field1508
loiterer1530
straggler1530
runagate1534
ruffler1535
hedge-creeper1548
Abraham man1567
cursitor1567
runner1567
walker1567
tinker1575
traveller1598
Tartar1602
stravagant1606
wagand1614
Circumcellion1623
meechera1625
hedge-bird1631
gaberlunzie man1649
tramp1664
stroller1681
jockey1685
bird of passage1717
randy1724
tramper1760
stalko1804
vagabondager1813
rintherout1814
piker1838
pikey1838
beachcomber1840
roadster1851
vagabondizer1860
roustabout1862
bum1864
migratory1866
potter1867
sundowner1868
vag1868
walkabout1872
transient1877
Murrumbidgee whaler1878
rouster1882
run-the-hedge1882
whaler1883
shaughraun1884
heather-cat1886
hobo1889
tussocker1889
gay cat1893
overlander1898
stake-man1899
stiff1899
bindle-stiff1900
dingbat1902
stew-bum1902
tired Tim (also Timothy)1906
skipper1925
Strandlooper1927
knight of the road1928
hobohemian1936
plain turkey1955
scrub turkey1955
derro1963
jakey1988
crusty1990
a1525 Robin Hood & Potter in F. J. Child Eng. & Sc. Pop. Ballads (1888) III. v. 111 ‘Pottys, gret chepe!’ creyed Robyn,..all that say hem sell Seyde he had be no potter long.
1798 W. Wordsworth Female Vagrant 82 Semblance, with straw and panniered ass, They made Of potters wandering on from door to door.
1798 W. Wordsworth Peter Bell i. iii A Potter, Sir, he was by trade.
1867 Q. Rev. 122 378 The ‘potters’, a kind of indigenous gipsies, often curiously bearing the names of the great Northern families.
1881 J. H. Dixon Craven Dales vi. 71 [He] used to boast that ‘he could..wallop a potter, or preach a sermon with any man in the country!’
1885 T. Clarke et al. Specimens Westmorland Dial. (new ed.) 38 A com at a potter tent int' green lonnin.
1899 West Cumberland Times 28 Jan. 3/2 He had known the piece of waste... He had seen potters camping on it... You mean tramps or gipsies?—Yes, something of that kind.
a1919 W. B. Kendall Forness Word Bk. (Cumbria County Archives, Barrow) (transcript of MS) Potter, a hawker of crockery.
1972 Times Lit. Suppl. 3 Mar. 245/3 The travellers and vagrants—gypsies, ‘potters’, pedlars, beggars, Irish labourers looking for work—who haunted..the roads of Lakeland.
Compounds
C1. † potter craft n. Obsolete rare the skill or trade of the potter.
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society > occupation and work > industry > manufacturing processes > pottery-making or ceramics > [noun]
potter craft?c1450
pottery1601
pot-makinga1649
potting1743
ceramic1859
?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) 443 (MED) Þe smyth..says, ‘I walde fayne For godes sake make þi bell agayne, Bot to make it I am daft, For I can noȝt of potter craft.’
potter wasp n. any of various solitary wasps, esp. of the family Eumenidae, which build flask-shaped nests of mud or clay which are attached to plants and into each of which is sealed an egg and a supply of food for the larva.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Hymenoptera > [noun] > suborder Apocrita, Petiolata, or Heterophaga > group Aculeata (stinging) > the wasps > member of family Eumenidae
mason fly1750
mason wasp1815
potter wasp1848
wall-wasp1881
1848 T. W. Harris in Boston Cultivator 15 July 225/1 The Potter Wasp. This is a small wasp, of the solitary kind, called by Mr. Say, Eumenesfraterna [sic], plain and unpretending in appearance.
1880 M. Allan-Olney New Virginians I. 99 The little potter-wasp makes a nest of clay, shaped like an ancient pot, which it fills with caterpillars.
1924 J. A. Thomson Sci. Old & New v. 30 Lustrous jewel-wasps which lay their eggs in the decanter-like earthen nests of the potter-wasps.
1993 M. Chinery Insects Brit. & N. Europe (ed. 3) 273 Eumenes coarctatus is the Potter Wasp of sandy heathland.
C2. Compounds in the genitive.
a. † potter's lead n. Obsolete lead or lead ore used for glazing pottery.† potter's lead ore n. Obsolete = potter's ore n.
potter's clay n. highly plastic clay, typically free from iron, that is suitable for making earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain.
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society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > clay > [noun] > for making pottery
eartha1350
potter's clay?a1425
potter's earth1440
pot earth?a1450
argil1530
pot clay1674
throwing clay1686
figuline1859
pottery clay1869
?a1425 MS Hunterian 95 f. 159v (MED) He schal take..as muche of potters cley oþer of oþer cleie as sufficeþ to þe oynement be as þicke as honye.
1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique vi. ii. 731 Sandie, stonie, grauelly, and flintie ground, as also such as consisteth of a potters claie in the bottome.
1794 R. Kirwan Elements Mineral. (ed. 2) I. 180 Potter's Clay. Colour, generally greyish white, and then called pipe clay.
1872 H. T. Ellacombe Church Bells Devon Pref. 4 Plaster of Paris casts, made from ‘squeezes’ taken..with potter's clay.
1883 Gringo & Greaser 1 Dec. 1/1 We have also gypsum (plaster of paris) beds, sulphur deposits and beds of kaolin or potters clay.
1911 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 41 263 These ingredients improve the quality of true potter's clay considerably, not merely making it more plastic, but preventing the vessels from cracking afterwards in the fire.
1994 Jrnl Field Archaeol. 21 311/1 The resulting pit could then serve for storage of grain..or such valuables as grinding stones, potter's clay, or casting molds.
potter's earth n. = potter's clay n.
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society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > clay > [noun] > for making pottery
eartha1350
potter's clay?a1425
potter's earth1440
pot earth?a1450
argil1530
pot clay1674
throwing clay1686
figuline1859
pottery clay1869
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 411 Pottarys erthe, argilla.
1559 P. Morwyng tr. C. Gesner Treasure of Euonymus 257 The pit within the grounde hauing the sides walled with potters earth.
1670 J. Pettus Fodinæ Regales 1 Where Clays are digged (as Fullers earth, Potters earth, etc.) we call them Pits.
1738 G. Smith tr. Laboratory iii. 99 Make an Utensil of fine Potters Earth.
1850 R. W. Emerson Swedenborg in Representative Men iii. 100 Instead of porcelain, they are potter's earth, clay, or mud.
1866 L. D. Stickney Past, Present & Future 388 Alumina is mostly contained in the compound mass called potter's earth or clay; alumina is the earth next to silica, found most frequently and in great abundance in soils.
1972 Britannia 3 146 These [objects] were made..on a potter's wheel, and of potter's earth.
potter's field n. (with reference to Matthew xxvii. 7: see quot. 1526) a piece of ground used as a burial place for the poor and for strangers (also figurative).
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the world > life > death > disposal of corpse > burial > burial ground or cemetery > [noun] > for poor or strangers
potter's field1597
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Matt. xxvii. f. xl They toke counsell, and bought with them a potters felde to bury strangers in.]
1597 Bp. J. King Serm. Funeralles Arch-bishoppe Yorke, 1594 in Lect. Ionas 676 Forget not to buy a field..to bury thy dead in; a potters field, such as they had at Ierusalem, boughte with the price of bloude.
1688 Friendly Deb. Next Elections Parl. No. 3 Probably..like Judas Thirty Pence, they might not think it worth the Royal Treasury, and therefore might lay it out in a Potters Field, or a Daughters Portion, or so.
1764 W. Smith Answer Mr. Franklin's Remarks 9 One of them has long ago been applied by the city itself to the public use, as a Potter's field, and negroe burying-ground.
1870 Nature Aug. 281/2 For seven years the land had remained waste, a sort of Potter's field, and a scandal to that part of the metropolis.
1906 ‘M. Twain’ in Westm. Gaz. 26 Nov. 4/2 When I wrote a letter..you did not put it in the respectable part of the magazine, but interred it in that ‘potter's field’, the Editor's Drawer.
2010 N.Y. Times 30 June a25/2 He had died in late May and might have been buried at the potter's field on Hart Island.
potter's lathe n. a device or machine for throwing and turning pottery, consisting of a frame and a revolving horizontal disc on which the clay is placed; cf. potter's wheel n.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > pottery manufacturing equipment > [noun] > potter's lathe
potter's lathe1728
throwing wheel1746
throwing engine1747
lathe1773
jigger1825
jolley?1881
kick-wheel1893
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Pottery The Potter's Lathe, is also a kind of Wheel, but simpler and slighter.
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 1012 The English potter's lathe, for blocking out round ware.
1876 J. D. Dana Man. Mineral. (new ed.) 373 The dough, as it is called, is now ready for the potter's lathe, (or other means, by which it is mouldede into the various forms of china ware).
2003 Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) (Nexis) 9 Dec. 7 Each piece is turned on a potter's lathe to perfect its shape.
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the world > the earth > minerals > ore > [noun] > metal ore > lead ore
plumbago1617
potter's ore1647
bouse1653
lead-ore1653
plumbary1657
potter's lead1670
galena1671
blue lead1728
alquifou1756
lead glance1811
galenite1868
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > mineral material > ore > [noun] > lead-ore > for glazing pottery
potter's ore1647
potter's lead1670
1670 J. Pettus Fodinæ Regales v. 5 From the Metals are produced Letharges,..White Lead, Red Lead, Potters Lead, and many other varieties.
1670 J. Pettus Fodinæ Regales vi. 25 Potters Lead is made by art from common Lead Oar.
a1773 G. Edwards Elements Fossilogy (1776) 86 An individual of a glossy black colour; consisting of large irregular plates, somewhat like potter's lead.
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1751 J. Hill Hist. Materia Medica 19 In the first state it is commonly called Potter's Lead-Ore.
1822 P. Cleaveland Elem. Treat. Mineral. & Geol. (ed. 2) II. 634 Galena is sometimes..called Potter's Lead ore.
1841 Ladies' Repository Aug. 238/2 At Villach, in Austria, there is said to be found a potter's lead ore, containing not the smallest portion of silver.
potter's ore n. a type of lead ore used in the manufacture of pottery glazes; galena.
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the world > the earth > minerals > ore > [noun] > metal ore > lead ore
plumbago1617
potter's ore1647
bouse1653
lead-ore1653
plumbary1657
potter's lead1670
galena1671
blue lead1728
alquifou1756
lead glance1811
galenite1868
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > mineral material > ore > [noun] > lead-ore > for glazing pottery
potter's ore1647
potter's lead1670
1647 Brief Declar. Surrender of Lundy 10 100 Tuns of his own Lead, and 100 Tuns of Potters Ore, to be brought from his Mines in Wales to Bydeford, for the better discharge of his debts in Devon.
a1728 J. Woodward Attempt Nat. Hist. Fossils Eng. (1729) i. 213 Potters-ore with a vein of white spar passing through the middle of it.
1811 J. Farey Gen. View Agric. Derbyshire I. 378 The largest and most pure, the Bing-Ore, was sold to..Potters,..and..was called Potter's Ore.
1874 Rep. Geol. Surv. Missouri 688 The mineral is solid, unconnected with any other substance, of a broad grain, and what mineralogists call potter's-ore.
1998 J. H. Rieuwerts Gloss. Derbyshire Lead Mining Terms 122/2 Potters ore, a type of lead ore, very soft, pure and easily smelted.
potter's wheel n. a horizontal revolving disc on which prepared clay is moulded into shape; sometimes taken to include the whole device or machine of which this disc is a part (cf. potter's lathe n.).
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society > occupation and work > equipment > pottery manufacturing equipment > [noun] > potter's lathe > horizontal wheel of
wheela1382
potter's wheel1609
whirling-table1764
throwing table1855
slow wheel1925
1609 T. Heywood Troia Britanica i. 26 He first deuised the Bellowes, and as some suppose the Potters wheele.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Pottery The Potter's Wheel consists principally in its Nut, which is a Beam or Axis, whose Foot or Pivot plays perpendicularly on a Free-stone Sole or Bottom.
1832 G. R. Porter Treat. Manuf. Porcelain & Glass i. 5 The earliest authentic records allude to the potter's wheel as to an implement of then high antiquity.
1894 S. Smiles J. Wedgwood iii. 22 The thrower is the person who sits in his shed, near the potter's wheel, and forms by hand from the moist clay as it revolves, the crock, the butter pot, the porringer or other such wares.
1927 Amer. Mercury Jan. 69/2 The making of pottery vessels by hand coiling without the aid of the potter's wheel originated and developed in America.
1994 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 22 Dec. e1/1 The potter's wheel, which is mentioned in the Old Testament, is one of the most ancient examples of the flywheel principle.
b. Forming names for the silicosis (or silicosis with tuberculosis) once prevalent among workers in the pottery industry.† potter's bronchitis n. Obsolete rare.† potter's consumption n. Obsolete rare† potter's disease n. Obsolete rare.† potter's phthisis n. Obsolete rare.
potter's asthma n.
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1863 J. T. Arlidge Rep. to Children's Employment Comm. in Parl. Papers xviii. 106 The potters..are especially prone to chest disease, to pneumonia, phthisis, bronchitis, and asthma. One form would appear peculiar to them and is known as potter's asthma or potter's consumption.
1892 Jrnl. Royal Statist. Soc. 55 580 Generally speaking, their high mortality is to be attributed to the fine and very irritating dust which engenders ‘potter's asthma’, i.e., the chronic bronchitis accompanying emphysema.
1911 A. Bennett Hilda Lessways (1925) i. iv. 581 She knew what a pawnshop was, her father being often out of a job owing to potter's asthma.
1966 M. Bruce Coming of Welfare State iii. 50 The occupational diseases..were intensified by the conditions created by the coming of steampower and factory working, grinder's and potter's ‘asthma’, lead-poisoning and the like.
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1895 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Potter's bronchitis.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorder of respiratory organs > [noun] > disorders of lungs > caused by dust or fibre
stone-cutter's disease or phthisis1540
phthisis1821
black lung1837
anthracosis1838
shoddy fever1851
potter's consumption1863
siderosis1869
collier's phthisis1871
iron lung1872
chalicosis1878
pneumonoconiosis1878
tabacosis1879
byssinosis1881
pneumoconiosis1881
silicosis1881
potter's rot1895
fur-fever1905
stonemason's lung1905
asbestosis1927
anthracosilicosis1929
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis1935
bagassosis1941
bagasse1943
berylliosis1943
thesaurosis1958
1863 J. T. Arlidge Rep. to Children's Employment Comm. in Parl. Paper xviii. 106 The potters..are especially prone to chest diease, to pneumonia, phthisis, bronchitis, and asthma. One form would appear peculiar to them and is known as potter's asthma or potter's consumption.
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1895 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Potter's disease.
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1895 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Potter's phthisis.
potter's rot n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorder of respiratory organs > [noun] > disorders of lungs > caused by dust or fibre
stone-cutter's disease or phthisis1540
phthisis1821
black lung1837
anthracosis1838
shoddy fever1851
potter's consumption1863
siderosis1869
collier's phthisis1871
iron lung1872
chalicosis1878
pneumonoconiosis1878
tabacosis1879
byssinosis1881
pneumoconiosis1881
silicosis1881
potter's rot1895
fur-fever1905
stonemason's lung1905
asbestosis1927
anthracosilicosis1929
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis1935
bagassosis1941
bagasse1943
berylliosis1943
thesaurosis1958
1895 S. J. Thomas in F. W. Galton Workers on their Industries 196 That particular form of asthmatic complaint known as ‘potter's rot’.
1966 G. P. Wright & W. S. Symmers Systemic Pathol. I. x. 405/1 Soon after calcined flint was introduced in the manufacture of porcelain, at about the middle of the 18th century, ‘potter's rot’ made its appearance among the workmen.
1992 Occup. Med. 7 369 Coal miners' nystagmus, scrotal cancer in chimney sweeps, phossy jaw, hatters' shakes, painters' colic, potters' rot, chauffeurs' knee, glanders, caisson disease, and others.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
† pottern.2
Obsolete.
1. A person addicted to ‘potting’ or drinking; a tippler, a drunkard. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [noun] > one who drinks to excess > alcoholic or habitual drinker
supper?1529
blow-bowl1530
drunkard1530
drunkera1538
blow-bottle1580
tippler1580
potman1589
red nose1591
sot1592
water rat1593
ply-pot1611
potter1632
pothead1639
pisspot1655
pitcher-man1665
whetter1709
inebriate1794
rummy1843
alcoholic1852
oenomaniac1857
dipsomaniac1858
alcoholizer1880
alcoholist1888
potationist1888
lush1890
rumdum1891
rumhound1895
blacklister1904
dipso1923
rumpot1929
alky1944
juice-head1955
alcohol abuser1965
juicer1967
substance abuser1967
jakey1988
1632 D. Lupton London & Countrey Carbonadoed 85 He is for the most part a potter and piper.
1663 B. Gerbier Counsel to Builders 41 Pipers and Potters, to sit in Tavernes.
2. A person who pots or preserves meat, etc. rare.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preserving or pickling > [noun] > one who pots meat
potter1857
1857 J. Davy Angler in Lake District i. 10 I cannot do better than let you have the receipt of an experienced potter of charr.
3. U.S. Either of two North American freshwater turtles of the family Emydidae, the redbelly turtle, Pseudemys rubriventris, and the chicken turtle, Deirochelys reticularia.
ΚΠ
1876 Amer. Cycl. XV. 661/2 The red-bellied terrapin, or potter (ptychemys rugosa, Ag.; E. rubriventris, Le Conte)..is found between the Delaware river and Chesapeake bay.
1884 F. W. True in G.B. Goode et al. Fisheries U.S.: Sect. I 154 The ‘Red-bellied Terrapin’, Pseudemys rugosa,..is also known under the names ‘potter’, ‘Red-fender’, and ‘Slider’.
1890 Cent. Dict. Potter,..4. A fresh-water clemmyoid turtle, Deirochelys serrata, of the United States.
4. A person who ‘pots’ at game (cf. pot v.4 5); a pot-hunter.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > shooting > shooter > [noun] > other types of shooter
Peter Gunner1615
pot-hunter1750
rifleman1809
snapshot1845
market-shooter1880
holder-on1881
potter1884
snap-shooter1887
kangaroo-shooter1902
plinker1943
rough-shooter1958
scattergunner1969
1884 Pall Mall Budget 22 Aug. 27/2 Many a wealthy ‘potter’ who has..blazed away..at the deer.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
pottern.3
/ˈpɒtə/, U.S. /ˈpɑdər/ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > loquacity or talkativeness > [noun] > chatter
chirma800
clappingc1386
glavera1400
clapa1420
clackc1440
blabc1460
clattera1500
babble?a1525
babblery1532
pratery1533
clitter-clatter1535
by-talk?1551
prattle1555
prittle-prattle1556
twittle-twattle1565
cacquet1567
prate?1574
prattlement1579
babblement1595
gibble-gabble1600
gabble1602
twattlea1639
tolutiloquence1656
pratement1657
gaggle1668
leden1674
cackle1676
twit-twat1677
clash1685
chit-chat1710
chatter-chitter1711
chitter-chatter1712
palavering1732
hubble-bubble1735
palaver1748
rattle1748
gum1751
mag1778
gabber1780
gammon1781
gash1787
chattery1789
gabber1792
whitter-whatter1805
yabble1808
clacket1812
talky-talky1812
potter1818
yatter1827
blue streak1830
gabblement1831
psilologya1834
chin-music1834
patter1841
jaw1842
chatter1851
brabble1861
tongue-work1866
yacker1882
talkee1885
chelp1891
chattermag1895
whitter1897
burble1898
yap1907
clatfart1913
jive1928
logorrhœa1935
waffle1937
yackety-yacking1953
yack1958
yackety-yack1958
motormouth1976
1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian xii, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. III. 315 That precision and easy brevity which is only acquired by habitually conversing in the higher ranks of society, and which is the diametrical opposite of that protracted style of disquisition ‘Which squires call potter, and which men call prose’.
2. A spell of gentle activity, esp. a leisurely stroll or saunter (sometimes with about). Cf. potter v. 5. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > inaction > idleness, lack of occupation or activity > [noun] > trifling activity or time-wasting
loitering1362
triflinga1382
dalliance1567
piddling1580
baubling1608
idlement1622
concessation1623
paddling1642
sauntering1680
puddling1695
dawdle1813
dawdling1819
puttering1835
pottering1844
peddling1851
tiddlywinking1869
loiter1876
frivolling1882
potter1897
muckings1898
futzing1907
piffling1914
fucking1931
monkeying1932
muck-about1968
twatting1989
society > travel > aspects of travel > going on foot > [noun] > walking leisurely or idly > an act of
lounge1806
stroll1814
dander1821
toddle1825
saunter1828
paseo1832
pasear1847
potter1897
crawl1905
passeggiata1950
1897 Chicago Advance 10 June 769/1 These are little things any way, a mere potter about externals.
1901 ‘L. Malet’ Hist. Richard Calmady iii. v. 210 But Camp, who missing Richard, had followed his mistress out of the house for a leisurely morning potter, turned back sulkily.
1949 E. Bowen Heat of Day xiv. 248 A potter through the boundary woods.
1955 M. Allingham Beckoning Lady v. 84 The prospect of a glorious potter about was too much for Amanda.
1966 O. Norton School of Liars vi. 91 He'll have to go pretty steadily. No worries. No real work. A good potter for about a month.
1972 Q. Bell Virginia Woolf I. ii. 33 Leslie's favourite exercise was walking; he would sometimes go for what he called ‘a potter’, covering thirty miles or so.
2002 Belfast News Let. (Nexis) 21 Nov. 24 The next morning, we breakfasted famously and went for a potter in Hyde Park to walk it off.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
Pottern.4
/ˈpɒtə/, U.S. /ˈpɑdər/ Medicine.
In the genitive and attributive. Designating the characteristic syndrome of fetal deformity caused by extreme deficiency of amniotic fluid, including hypoplasia of the lungs (leading to respiratory failure in live-born infants) and abnormalities of the face, limbs, and skin, seen in cases of congenital malformations in which fetal urination is impaired, esp. bilateral renal agenesis.
ΚΠ
1956 Canad. Med. Assoc. Jrnl. 74 551/1 Respiration was noisy, laboured and rapid... The clinical diagnosis was Potter's syndrome.
1960 Arch. Dis. Childhood 35 257/2 Abnormalities of the ears, somewhat similar to those seen in Potter's syndrome, occur in other malformations of the urinary tract.
1984 Amer. Jrnl. Med. Genetics 19 679 Eighty cases of Potter sequence due to a renal or urologic abnormality were studied retrospectively.
1999 Journal (Newcastle) (Nexis) 24 Apr. 3 Babies with Potter's Syndrome usually die before, or within 24 hours of being born, so doctors have no previous cases to follow.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
potterv.
/ˈpɒtə/, U.S. /ˈpɑdər/ 1. Chiefly English regional (northern and midlands) in later use.† a. intransitive. To poke again and again; to make a succession of slight thrusts; to prod at something repeatedly. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impact > striking > striking in specific manner > strike in specific manner [verb (intransitive)] > strike with pushing action > poke or prod > repeatedly
potter1646
1646 Topicks in Laws of Eng. Ded. Hee will be brodding at, and pottering upon the ground, every way with his Rapier or Dagger.
1676 T. Mace Musick's Monument 128 The Prælude is commonly..a Random-Business, Pottering, and Grooping, up and down, from one Stop, or Key, to another.
1681 C. Cotton Wonders of Peake (1699) 64 Stooping, with our sticks t'essay, If pottering this and that way, we could find How deep it went.
1714 M. Fothergill Let. 3 Feb. in T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1898) IV. 303 Four small Coyns were..casually found by a Shepherd, pottering upon the ground wth his Crooke.
1797 S. J. Pratt Family Secrets II. 17 I have been pottering about with my stick, and my family have all been on their knees grubbing i' the ashes.
a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Potter, to poke, pry, rummage. It seems..to imply repetition or continuance of poking.
1865 J. Sleigh Attempt at Derbyshire Gloss. (E.D.D.) Poking or pottering in the earth.
b. transitive. To poke; to move or stir (anything) by thrusting or prodding. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > state of annoyance or vexation > be annoyed or vexed by [verb (transitive)] > annoy or vex
gremec893
dretchc900
awhenec1000
teenOE
fretc1290
annoyc1300
atrayc1320
encumberc1330
diseasec1340
grindc1350
distemperc1386
offenda1387
arra1400
avexa1400
derea1400
miscomforta1400
angerc1400
engrievec1400
vex1418
molesta1425
entrouble?1435
destroublea1450
poina1450
rubc1450
to wring (a person) on the mailsc1450
disprofit1483
agrea1492
trouble1515
grig1553
mis-set?1553
nip?1553
grate1555
gripe1559
spitec1563
fike?1572
gall1573
corsie1574
corrosive1581
touch1581
disaccommodate1586
macerate1588
perplex1590
thorn1592
exulcerate1593
plague1595
incommode1598
affret1600
brier1601
to gall or tread on (one's) kibes1603
discommodate1606
incommodate1611
to grate on or upon1631
disincommodate1635
shog1636
ulcerate1647
incommodiate1650
to put (a person) out of his (her, etc.) way1653
discommodiate1654
discommode1657
ruffle1659
regrate1661
disoblige1668
torment1718
pesta1729
chagrin1734
pingle1740
bothera1745
potter1747
wherrit1762
to tweak the nose of1784
to play up1803
tout1808
rasp1810
outrage1818
worrit1818
werrit1825
buggerlug1850
taigle1865
get1867
to give a person the pip1881
to get across ——1888
nark1888
eat1893
to twist the tail1895
dudgeon1906
to tweak the tail of1909
sore1929
to put up1930
wouldn't it rip you!1941
sheg1943
to dick around1944
cheese1946
to pee off1946
to honk off1970
to fuck off1973
to tweak (a person's or thing's) tail1977
to tweak (a person's or thing's) nose1983
to wind up1984
to dick about1996
to-teen-
the world > movement > impact > striking > striking in specific manner > strike in specific manner [verb (transitive)] > strike with pushing action > poke or prod
prokec1225
pokec1330
punchc1384
pinga1400
purrc1450
brod1483
rowc1500
dub1513
pod1530
prod1535
job1560
poy1562
pounce1577
poach1632
pote1714
potter1747
poker1774
nug1866
1747 W. Hooson Miners Dict. sig. Kivb With a Stick long enough, one might potter them down out of the Roof.
1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) Potter, to poke, to push as with the end of a stick.
1877 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. (at cited word) Noo then, Anne, potter that fire, or it'll be deäd oot in a minnit.
1888 J. Nicholson Wee Tibbie’s Garland 169 I pottert the ribs an' chappit the coal.
1903 Æ. Binns in Eng. Dial. Dict. IV. 598/1 [West Yorkshire] Ah'd potter'd all t'cowks aht o' t'grate an' started o' blackleeadin'.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > doing > activity or occupation > acting in another's business or intervention > act in another's business or intervene [verb (intransitive)] > interfere or meddle
entermeenec1449
intermit1456
intromit?a1475
intermeddle1477
intromeddle1524
to put (also have) an oar in every man's boat1542
to put (also stick, shove, etc.) one's oar in1542
to have a hand in the dish1551
pudder1624
mird?c1625
to mell or make with1634
potter1655
dabble1660
meddle1711
interfere1743
to bugger about1937
to bugger around1961
1655 W. Gurnall Christian in Armour: 1st Pt. 68 A lock whose wards have been troubled; which makes it harder to turn the Key, then if never potter'd with.
3. transitive. English regional (northern and midlands). To trouble, perplex, worry, or bother (someone). Cf. pother v. 1. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > state of being upset or perturbed > worry > worry about [verb (transitive)] > cause worry to
busyeOE
fretc1290
exercise1531
to lead, rarely give (a person) a dancea1545
pingle1740
potter1763
fidget1785
worrit1818
worry1822
bite1909
disquieten1921
to stress out1983
1763 ‘T. Bobbin’ Toy-shop (new ed.) 15 Neaw wou'd naw sitch o Moon-shine traunce Potter any body's Plucks?
1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) Potter, to confuse. ‘Don't potter me’.
1855 E. C. Gaskell North & South I. xix. 234 By th' twenty-first, I reckon, he'll be pottered in his brains how to get 'em done in time.
1855 E. C. Gaskell North & South II. xxv. 337 Th' measter's a deal to potter him.
a1903 J. J. Brigg in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1903) IV. 598/1 [West Yorkshire] He wor sadly pottered ower yon theear.
4. † c. transitive. To work out by pottering. Obsolete.
a. intransitive. To occupy oneself in an ineffectual or trifling way; to work or act in a feeble or desultory manner; to dabble in or with something. Cf. sense 5b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > inaction > idleness, lack of occupation or activity > be idle or unoccupied [verb (intransitive)] > potter or waste time in trifling activity
trifle?a1400
loiterc1400
tiffc1440
tifflec1440
to pick a salad1520
to play the wanton1529
fiddle1530
dauntc1540
piddle1545
dally?1548
pittlea1568
pingle1574
puddle1591
to thrum caps1594
maginate1623
meecha1625
pudder1624
dabble1631
fanfreluche1653
dawdlea1656
taigle17..
niff-naff1728
tiddle1747
peddle1755
gammer1788
quiddle1789
muddle1791
browse1803
niddle1808
poke1811
fal-lal1818
potter1824
footer1825
putter1827
shaffle1828
to fool about1838
mike1838
piffle1847
mess1853
to muck about1856
tinker1856
bohemianize1857
to fool around1860
frivol1866
june1869
muss1876
to muddle about (also around)1877
slummock1877
dicker1888
moodle1893
to fart about1899
to fart about (or around)1899
plouter1899
futz1907
monkey1916
to arse around1919
to play around1929
to fuck around1931
tool1932
frig1933
boondoggle1935
to muck around1935
to screw around1935
to bugger about1937
to bugger around1939
to piss about1943
to dick around1948
to jerk around1953
fart-arse1954
to fanny around1969
slop1973
dork1982
to twat around (or about)1992
to dick about1996
1824 W. Carr Horæ Momenta Cravenæ Gloss. Potter, to do things ineffectually.
1832 H. E. Manning in E. S. Purcell Life Cardinal Manning (1895) I. 99 I suppose your husband is pottering on in his old way.
1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. III. xiii. 242 David pottered on at his bees and his flowers till old Simon returned.
1887 Spectator 16 Apr. 535/1 Any man..who likes to ‘potter’ in zoology.
1931 E. S. Smith Reducing Seasonal Unemployment Preface p. xiv Capricious pottering with the economic system—however benevolent its purpose—can do more harm than good.
a1944 A. Quiller-Couch Lect. in F. Brittain Arthur Quiller-Couch (1947) 64 Any nation that potters with any glory of its past, as a thing dead and done for, is to that extent renegade.
2005 Yorks. Post (Nexis) 27 June [He] read French and Russian at Cambridge, then ‘pottered’ in advertising.
b. intransitive. To talk in a trifling or desultory way. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > loquacity or talkativeness > be talkative [verb (intransitive)] > talk excessively or chatter
chavel?c1225
babblea1250
chattera1250
clacka1250
janglea1300
ganglec1300
clapc1315
mumblec1350
blabberc1375
carp1377
tatterc1380
garre1382
rattlec1400
clatter1401
chimec1405
gabc1405
pattera1450
smattera1450
languetc1450
pratec1460
chat1483
jabber1499
clittera1529
cackle1530
prattle1532
blatter1533
blab1535
to run on pattens1546
tattle1547
prittle-prattlea1555
trattlea1555
tittle-tattle1556
quiddlea1566
brabble1570
clicket1570
twattle1573
gabble1574
prittle1583
to like to hear oneself speak, talk1597
to word it1612
deblaterate1623
tongue1624
twitter1630
snatter1647
oversay1656
whiffle1706
to gallop away1711
splutter1728
gob1770
gibble-gabble1775
palaver1781
to talk (etc.) nineteen to the dozen1785
gammon1789
witter1808
yabble1808
yaff1808
mag1810
chelp1820
tongue-pad1825
yatter1825
potter1826
chipper1829
jaw-jaw1831
buzz1832
to shoot off one's mouth1864
yawp1872
blate1878
chin1884
yap1888
spiel1894
to talk (also lie, swear, etc.) a blue streak1895
to run off at the mouth1908
chattermag1909
clatfart1913
to talk a streak1915
to run one's mouth1916
natter1942
ear-bash1944
rabbit1950
yack1950
yacker1961
to eat parrot head (also bottom)1965
yacket1969
to twat on1996
1826 W. Scott Jrnl. 6 Sept. (1939) 225 [They] pottered away about Persia and India, and I fell asleep.
ΚΠ
1853 E. FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 225 I have ordered Eastwick's Gulistan: for I believe I shall potter out so much Persian.
d. transitive. To trifle away; to spend, waste, or lose in or by pottering.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > inaction > idleness, lack of occupation or activity > cause to be idle or inactive [verb (transitive)] > occupy oneself triflingly with > waste (time) in trifling activity
trifle outa1450
trifle1532
loiter1549
picklea1568
toy1575
trifle1587
rust1604
to idle (time) away1652
fool1657
to dally away1685
dangle1727
to piddle away1743
peddle1866
potter1883
putter1911
gold-brick1918
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > misuse > [verb (transitive)] > waste
spilla1000
scatter1154
aspilla1250
rospa1325
waste1340
spend1390
consumec1425
waste1474
miswenda1500
forsumea1510
to cast away1530
to throw away1561
embezzle1578
squander1593
palter1595
profuse1611
squander1611
ravel1614
sport1622
to fool away1628
to stream out1628
to fribble away1633
sweal1655
frisk1665
to fiddle away1667
wantonize1673
slattera1681
swattle1681
drivel1686
swatter1690
to muddle away1707
squander1717
sot1746
slattern1747
meisle1808
fritter1820
waster1821
slobber1837
to cut to waste1863
fringe1863
potter1883
putter1911
profligate1938
to piddle away1942
haemorrhage1978
spaff2002
1883 A. Forbes in Fortn. Rev. 1 Nov. 664 He pottered away..his opportunity to reach Verdun.
1893 W. A. Shee My Contemporaries vii 188 Uncles and aunts..were content to potter away their lives at Torquay.
1920 Trenton (New Jersey) Evening Times 3 Aug. 8/1 Life is too short to potter away the minutes with old-fashioned, time-wasting surroundings.
1990 P. Magubane et al. Soweto vii. 127 With his playful dog Skelm..he potters away the day, snipping the lawn and soaking up the sun.
5.
a. intransitive. To move or walk slowly, idly, or aimlessly; to saunter, dawdle, loiter. Usually with adverbial phrase as complement (sometimes merging with sense 5b).In quot. 1676 at sense 1a the sense is unclear.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > going on foot > go on foot [verb (intransitive)] > leisurely or idly
raik?c1350
troll1377
spacea1425
jet1530
spacierc1550
snaffle1611
spatiate1626
saunter1671
stroll1680
trollopa1745
dangle1778
doiter1793
stroam1796
browse1803
soodle1821
potter1824
streek1827
streel1839
pasear1840
toddle1848
bummel1900
1824 Countess Granville Let. 2 Apr. (1894) I. 271 Balls every night. After that they all potter off to their campagnes.
1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. ii. 32 Past the old church and down the footpath, pottered the old man and the child hand-in-hand.
1888 Cent. Mag. Dec. 219/2 The slowest of Sunday trains, pottering up to London.
1903 G. B. Shaw Man & Superman iv. 162 Mrs Whitefield, who has been pottering round the Granada shops, and has a net full of little parcels in her hand, comes in through the gate and sees him.
1918 J. Galsworthy Five Tales 272 He..pottered in and out of his dressing-room.
1932 E. Waugh Black Mischief vii. 257 The Envoy Extraordinary finished his second cup of coffee, filled and lit his pipe, and avoiding the social life of the lawn, pottered round by the back way to the Chancery.
1983 J. Lingard Winter Visitor xii. 99 He went out again, pottered a little way along the beach.
b. intransitive. To move or go about in a casual, unsystematic, or unhurried way, doing desultory tasks or making unsystematic investigations. Frequently with about, around.
ΚΠ
1840 B. Hall Patchwork (1841) II. vii. 122 I pottered about in the environs of Naples.
1859 J. M. Jephson & L. Reeve Narr. Walking Tour Brittany xiii. 220 He did not go pottering about, measuring cornices, and sticking a portico from the Parthenon here, and a pediment from somewhere else there.
1860 G. H. Lewes Jrnl. 26 Sept. in ‘G. Eliot’ Lett. (1954) III. 349 To-day..I wrote some letters and pottered.
1877 H. E. P. Spofford in Harper's Mag. Nov. 861/1 Pottering..about the house, and finding little odd jobs to attend to.
1880 M. E. Braddon Just as I Am x To potter about with your garden scissors and the watering can in the conservatories.
1931 E. Bliss Saraband iv. 209 It seemed impossible to believe that Father wouldn't be always there, pottering round in his instrument room.
1948 D. Thomas Let. 26 Aug. (1987) 683 Then I should have written, but, at home, full of remorse, I could only potter gently in the garden.
1989 Guardian (Nexis) 28 Feb. Spare a thought for Harry Vickers, pottering around in his greenhouse, minding his own business..when—whoosh—a huge lump of purple ice crashed down.
2004 Sun (Nexis) 27 Dec. I had the day off, so I pottered around the house for ages getting ready.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1a1225
n.21632
n.31818
n.41956v.1646- burning-mirror
- burning-oil
- burning-point
- burning-speculum
- burning-wood
- burningfluid
- burningghat
- burningglass
- burninghouse
- burningiron
- burninglens
- burningly
- burningmirror
- burningoil
- burningpoint
- burnings
- burningspeculum
- burningwood
- burniron
- burnish
- burnishable
- burnished
- bubble jet printer
- bubble level
- bubble lift