pother

American  

[poth-er] / ˈpɒð ər /

noun

1. commotion; uproar.

2. a heated discussion, debate, or argument; fuss; to-do.

3. a choking or suffocating cloud, as of smoke or dust.

---

verb (used with or without object)

1. to worry; bother.

pother British  

/ ˈpɒðə /

noun

1. a commotion, fuss, or disturbance

2. a choking cloud of smoke, dust, etc

---

verb

1. to make or be troubled or upset

Etymology

Origin of pother

First recorded in 1585–95; origin uncertain

Example Sentences

Indiana's freshman Democratic Representative Randall S. Harmon, 55, shrugged off all the bother as mere pother.

From Time Magazine Archive

The epistolary pother had its genesis on June 13, when Watt and Arens sat together at a Washington banquet.

From Time Magazine Archive

Hardly less of a pother has Caltech's famed Robert Andrews Millikan made by his controversies with colleagues who did not see his cosmic ray theories as he did.

From Time Magazine Archive

But the pother he had started went on.

From Time Magazine Archive

As to our own work, duty, influence, etc., concerning which so much fussy pother is made, it will not fail of its due effect, though, like a lichen on a stone, we keep silent.

From My First Summer in the Sierra by Muir, John