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.

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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

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verb

1. to make or be troubled or upset

Etymology

Origin of pother

First recorded in 1585–95; origin uncertain

Example Sentences

Let the great Gods, that keep this dreadful pother o'er our heads, find out their enemies now.

From Time Magazine Archive

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

From Time Magazine Archive

Bedrock facts beneath the billows of press pother last week about the Gold Standard: France.

From Time Magazine Archive

The pother at Yale had begun the week before, when a fine fall of late winter snow had coincided with a fettlesome rise of early spring sap.

From Time Magazine Archive

Pother, poth′ėr, n. bustle: confusion.—v.t. to puzzle: to perplex: to tease.—v.i. to make a pother.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various