loiter
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to linger aimlessly or as if aimless in or about a place.
to loiter around the bus terminal.
- Synonyms:
- loaf
-
to move in a slow, idle manner, making purposeless stops in the course of a trip, journey, errand, etc..
to loiter on the way to work.
-
to waste time or dawdle over work.
He loiters over his homework until one in the morning.
verb (used with object)
verb
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Related Words
Loiter, dally, dawdle, idle imply moving or acting slowly, stopping for unimportant reasons, and in general wasting time. To loiter is to linger aimlessly: to loiter outside a building. To dally is to loiter indecisively or to delay as if free from care or responsibility: to dally on the way home. To dawdle is to saunter, stopping often, and taking a great deal of time, or to fritter away time working in a halfhearted way: to dawdle over a task. To idle is to move slowly and aimlessly, or to spend a great deal of time doing nothing: to idle away the hours.
Other Word Forms
- loiterer noun
- loitering noun
Etymology
Origin of loiter
First recorded before 1300–50; Middle English loteren, loytren, perhaps from Middle Dutch loteren “to stagger, totter”; compare Dutch leuteren “to dawdle”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Geyser was found with a man at the truck stop just outside of Chicago - and about 170 miles south of Madison - after police received reports of a man and woman loitering.
From BBC
Drones were spotted this month in France, loitering around a gunpowder plant and a train station where tanks are located.
And she opposes “stay-out” orders that bar those accused of drug offenses from loitering downtown.
The rest of the Lakers sat silently or loitered in a semicircle waiting for their coaches to join.
From Los Angeles Times
After the result, us reporters were still loitering in the street and we were kept waiting ages for the winner, the loser and the prime minister to leave.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
