putter

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: pŭt'ə(r), IPA^(key): /ˈpʌtə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpʌtɚ/, /-ɾɚ/
• Hyphenation: put‧ter

Verb

putter (third-person singular simple present putters, present participle puttering, simple past and past participle puttered)

1. (intransitive) To be active, but not excessively busy, at a task or a series of tasks.
   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter XIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, OCLC 1004950748, OL 5535161W, pages 304–305:

     We tiptoed into the house, up the stairs and along the hall into the room where the Professor had been spending so much of his time. 'Twas locked, of course, but the Deacon man got a big bunch of keys out of his pocket and commenced to putter with the lock.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: po͝ot'ə(r), IPA^(key): /ˈpʊtə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpʊtɚ/, /-ɾɚ/
• Hyphenation: putt‧er

Noun

putter (plural putters)

1. One who puts or places.
2. One who pushes the small wagons in a coal mine.

Derived terms

• (one who puts or places): shot-putter

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: pŭt'ə(r), IPA^(key): /ˈpʌtə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpʌtɚ/, /-ɾɚ/
• Hyphenation: putt‧er

Noun

putter (plural putters)

1. (golf) A golf club specifically intended for a putt.
2. (golf) A person who is taking a putt or putting.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: pŭt'ə(r), IPA^(key): /ˈpʌtə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpʌtɚ/, /-ɾɚ/
• Hyphenation: put‧ter

Verb

putter (third-person singular simple present putters, present participle puttering, simple past and past participle puttered)

1. (intransitive) To produce intermittent bursts of sound in the course of operating.
   • 2010, Pat Kelleher, “‘Some Corner of a Foreign Field …’”, in Black Hand Gang (No Man’s World), Osney Mead, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Abaddon Books, →ISBN:

     By the time the engine had puttered and died Atkins and some of the others were out of the trenches and walking towards this new wonder machine.

   • 2010 June 14, Dan Newton, The Wildcat, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN:

     Timmy's dad drove an old blue truck that puttered and sputtered to get to the top of the mountain, that led to the valley, where … the WILDCAT waited.

   • 2017 March, Jennifer S. Holland, “For These Monkeys, It’s a Fight for Survival”, in National Geographic‎, archived from the original on 3 May 2017:

     As I reluctantly left Tangkoko for the last time, bumping along the trail on a motorbike, Raoul, the alpha male who had smacked my leg, wandered out from among the trees. He was alone, and after I puttered by, I glanced back to see him swagger into the middle of the path to watch me go.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pœ.tœʁ/

Noun

putter m (plural putters)

1. putter (golf club)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pœ.te/

Verb

putter

1. (golf) to putt