to potter around
1
6.5
- phrasal verb
- UK
:
vagar
- After breakfast, she liked to potter around the kitchen, making a cup of tea and planning her day.
Examples
-
On weekends, I love to potter around the garden, enjoying the flowers and the fresh air.
-
He spent the whole day pottering around on the sunbaked roof, with an expression of faint surprise, wearing a waistcoat, with a tape measure around his neck.
Fiction book (1997) -
It's quite a nice like, oh, I'm just going to like Potter around the garden and like, get to town.
-
"We've got to do something about Mum," she said as she, Miles, and I pottered around your kitchen...
Fiction book (1997) -
I wore the Snowdrop around while I was working and pottering around the house, and it was pretty much perfect.
Blog text (11) -
She is also someone who Potters around her flat blinds completely open, getting changed.
-
In PROMETHEUS, you do have a nice mood moment that echoes the original film and also the movie SILENT RUNNING, the sequence where we see David pottering around alone on the ship.
Blog text (10) -
We euphorically pottered around with the props and packed up in the dressing room while Jackson, with the help of Mike and Dusty, audibly died next door.
Fiction book (1994) -
Frank was nearing his seventy-seventh birthday now, very deaf, his bad leg stiffer than ever, but he could be seen pottering around the flower beds in fine weather, even though the weeds were starting to creep up on him, try as he might to suppress them.
Fiction book (2000) -
He spent the afternoon pottering around the house, fixing little things and tidying up.
Synonyms
379
1.3
Move around without a fixed direction, often slowly and in curves
214
1.7
To go on foot in a place without a clear purpose, often for pleasure
189
2.5
Move around without a fixed place, often while looking for something
111
4.1
To spend time doing playful or unplanned activities
46
3.6
Act in a silly, playful way instead of working
14
4.4
To walk for pleasure without a fixed route
11
7.0
To spend time doing small, not important jobs in a relaxed way
9
3.7
Move around slowly in a place without any clear purpose, often in a group
8
3.1
To move around a place on your feet without a clear purpose
7
5.3
To move around a place without a clear reason, often in a group
5
6.5
To spend time doing small, not important tasks slowly without a clear plan
4
7.3
Waste time by acting silly instead of working
4
6.9
To walk around without a clear purpose
3
5.9
To spend time somewhere doing nothing special
3
9.0
To move around places for pleasure without a plan
3
8.4
To spend time doing not important things in a relaxed way
2
7.7
Move around with no set place to go for fun
2
9.5
To waste time instead of doing the work you need
1
8.7
To waste time doing small unimportant things
1
8.7
To spend time doing things that are not important
1
9.2
To spend time doing small unimportant things instead of working
1
6.5
To spend time slowly doing small simple jobs without hurry
1
9.9
To waste time instead of doing something useful
1
9.7
To walk around without a clear destination for pleasure
1
9.9
To waste time doing silly or lazy things instead of useful work
To walk slowly without a clear purpose
Walk around slowly without a plan
To spend time doing small unimportant things with no real plan
Spend time or money on unimportant things
To travel slowly without a clear plan
Moving without a fixed direction or plan
Move around without a plan to have fun
To waste time on small unimportant things
How Aimless
- UK
1
6.5
17
5.0
- UK
1
6.5
- Informal
5
6.5
47
4.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
Both 'potter' (to tinker or move about aimlessly) and 'around' (moving about to various places) contribute their literal senses so the combined meaning 'move about or occupy oneself in a leisurely, aimless way' is directly derivable. The verb + around pattern is a standard compositional construction and does not involve an idiomatic shift, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily understand it.
Etymology
Potter around may come from the slow work of a potter who makes pots. A potter moves slowly around the wheel doing small jobs, so the phrase came to mean 'to move about or do little, relaxed tasks without a clear goal'.