pother

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English

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Etymology

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Origin uncertain. Compare Dutch peuteren (to rummage, poke), and English potter, pudder.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pother (countable and uncountable, plural pothers)

  1. A commotion, a tempest.
    • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
      Let the great gods, / That keep this dreadful pother o’er our heads, / Find out their enemies now.
    • 1941, Lewiston Morning Tribune, 14th of May:
      (name of the article) Flight Of Hess Causes Pother Among Germans
    • 1951, C. S. Lewis, chapter 5, in Prince Caspian, Collins, published 1998:
      After some years there came a time when the Queen seemed to be ill and there was a great deal of bustle and pother about her in the castle and doctors came and the courtiers whispered.

Translations

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Verb

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pother (third-person singular simple present pothers, present participle pothering, simple past and past participle pothered)

  1. (intransitive) To make a bustle or stir; to be fussy.
  2. (transitive) To puzzle or perplex.

Anagrams

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