dither

English

sense 4

Etymology

Variant of didder, from Middle English dideren (“to tremble”). Compare Middle English bididren, bididdren (“to seduce, deceive”), from Old English bedidrian, bedyderian (“to deceive, trick”).

Alternatively, perhaps with expressive voicing from *titeren, from Proto-Germanic *titrōną. If so a doublet of teeter and cognate with Old High German zittarōn (German zittern) and Old Norse titra (Faroese titra, Icelandic titra). Alternatively an unrelated reduplicative onomatopoeia.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪðə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪðɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɪðə(ɹ)

Verb

dither (third-person singular simple present dithers, present participle dithering, simple past and past participle dithered) (intransitive)

1. To tremble, shake, or shiver with cold.
   • 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 8”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

     Presently he came running out of the scullery, with the soapy water dripping from him, dithering with cold.

2. To be uncertain or unable to make a decision about doing something.
   • 2012, The Economist, Sept. 22nd issue, Indian Reform: At Last

     The dithering Mr Singh of recent times may worry that his reform proposals are already too bold. The reforming Mr Singh of yore would see them as just the start.

3. To do something nervously.
5. (computer graphics) To render an approximation of (an image or graphic) by using dot patterns to simulate the appearance of colors or shades not in the system palette.
6. To intentionally add noise to a signal to randomize errors.

Derived terms

• ditherer
• dithering
• ditheringly
• dithery

Related terms

• dodder

Translations

to shiver with cold

• Bulgarian: треперя (bg) (treperja)
• Finnish: hytistä (fi)
• German: zittern (de)

to be uncertain unable to make a decision

• Bulgarian: колебая се (kolebaja se)
• Dutch: treuzelen (nl)
• Finnish: epäröidä (fi) (uncertain); jahkailla (fi) (unable)
• French: être indécis, être incertain
• German: zögern (de)
• Italian: esitare (it), titubare (it)
• Maori: mānenei, pōhauhau, takahuirangi, manei
• Portuguese: estar indeciso
• Russian: колебаться (ru) (kolebatʹsja)

to do something nervously

• Finnish: hutiloida (fi)

(computing, graphics) to render an approximation of

• Finnish: koostaa (fi), ditheröidä

to add noise

• Finnish: sirotella (fi)

Noun

dither (countable and uncountable, plural dithers)

1. The state of being undecided.
   • 2002, Thomas P. Glynn, A Child's Christmas In Chicago, page 59:

     Everyone was in a dither; either in it or about to get in it or just climbing out of it. Naturally, the Madam was not in a dither. Dither was a foreign concept to her.

2. A form of noise which is intentionally applied to randomize errors which occur in the processing of both digital audio and digital video data.
3. (computer graphics) The use of dot patterns to approximate colors not available in the palette.

Derived terms

• in a dither

Translations

state of being undecided

• Bulgarian: колебание (bg) n (kolebanie)
• Finnish: epäröinti (fi)

form of noise

computer graphics: use of dot patterns to approximate colors not available in the palette

• Finnish: sirottelu (fi), sekoitussävytys

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “dither”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• dither on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• drieth, rideth, thirde