to putter
11
7.0
- verb
- /ˈpʌtər/
- Informal
:
trastear
- He spent the afternoon puttering in the garage, fixing old bikes and organizing tools.
- puttered around the kitchen
- puttered about the house
- puttering around the garden
Examples
-
Leon used to spend all his time puttering in the yard, fixing things all around the house.
-
Her mother is at the counter, puttering in the kitchen.
Academic text (2007) -
Sam said I could putter around a little bit.
-
I mean, how many times can you putter around the garden?
-
No need to putter around the house.
-
I often come out here to putter among the ruins.
-
Well, Dad kind of putters around the house.
-
I was pretty busy puttering around the apartment.
-
He's got a garden he likes to putter in, and he always comes over to say hello to us.
Fiction book (2002) -
Adrian liked to putter in the tiny garden on the weekends.
Fiction book (1991)
Synonyms
888
1.5
Spend time without any activity
350
1.1
To spend time sitting and doing very little without a clear purpose
111
4.1
To spend time doing playful or unplanned activities
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
3
7.9
Spend time doing very little or nothing
3
8.4
To spend time doing not important things in a relaxed way
2
7.7
To spend time doing nothing useful
2
8.6
To spend time doing very little and moving around without plans
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
7.7
To spend time doing nothing and not working
1
3.4
To spend time lazily doing little or nothing
1
6.5
To move around slowly doing small jobs in no hurry
1
6.5
To spend time doing nothing in a lazy way
1
9.9
To waste time doing silly or lazy things instead of useful work
To spend time doing small unimportant things with no real plan
Spend time or money on unimportant things
Phrasal Verbs
- Informal
5
6.5
To spend time doing small, not important tasks slowly without a clear plan
Compounds
How Productive
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The verb putter (to do small, unimportant tasks) comes from the everyday verb put ('to push') and is influenced by the similar word potter ('to work slowly on small jobs'). A helpful way to remember it is to picture moving small things about without a clear plan, which is why to putter is to spend time idly doing little tasks.