loitering

[ loi-ter-ing ]

noun

1. the act of lingering aimlessly or as if aimlessly in or about a place:

   A cluster of teens gathered in front of the plaza were charged with violating a city bylaw against loitering.

2. the act of moving in a slow, idle manner, with purposeless stops:

   His celebration of loitering as the best form of travel will resonate with anyone who has ever dared toss away a tourist map.

3. the act of wasting time or dawdling over work:

   As film director Jean Renoir notes, “The foundation of all civilization is loitering” because it gives time for creative thinking.

adjective

1. lingering aimlessly, moving slowly and idly, or wasting time:

   Fossil fuels may not remain plentiful long enough to underwrite such a loitering transition to renewable energy.

Other Words From

• loi·ter·ing·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of loitering¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; loiter ( def ) + -ing ¹( def ) for the noun senses; loiter ( def ) + -ing ²( def ) for the adjective sense

Example Sentences

He says he’s improved his locks, put in cameras and even offered soft drinks to kids loitering outside in a bid to win them over.

From BBC

The law is intended to allow property owners to seek rebates for expenses, such as security bars, if they can show they were harmed by a failure to enforce laws against loitering, panhandling, camping and public drinking.

From Los Angeles Times

“The retailers’ incentive to push the tough-on-crime measures is that they’re seeing declines in sales, and a way to say to customers, ‘Come on back,’ is to say, ‘We’ve done something about retail theft or people loitering outside using drugs,’ ” she said.

From Los Angeles Times

Primavera Baltazar, who is incarcerated in Texas for an unrelated case, alleged that in the early 1990s Batanero and another deputy — former Sheriff Alex Villanueva — pulled up on a group of teens in Belvedere Park and assaulted them for loitering, one of them allegedly kicking a pregnant teen in the process.

From Los Angeles Times

In a short emailed comment to The Times, Villanueva said Baltazar had been arrested for burglary and not loitering, and that the allegations against him were “demonstrably false, defamatory” claims relying on “false allegations made recently regarding events from thirty years ago that will never see the light of day in a courtroom.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• lag
• moratorium
• postponement
• problem
• setback
• stoppage
• suspension
• wait