dial. and U.S. Also teater, teter. [f. TEETER v.]
1. A see-saw; a see-sawing or swaying motion; the game of see-saw; also fig. hesitation between two alternatives, vacillation. Also attrib., teeter-board.
1867. Lowell, Biglow P., Ser. II. iii. I tell you you’ve gut to larn thet War ain’t one long teeter Betwixt I wan’ to an ’T wunt du.
1883. U.S. Patent, No. 292254. In a teeter, the stands A, having inclined posts a, that are connected on top by the socketed pivot-castings b, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
1887. Havergal, Hereford Gloss., 34. ‘All on the teater.’
1892. E. McGaffey, Redwing, 13, in Poems Gun & Rod, 131.
| A black bass leaped for a dragon-fly | |
| And struck the spray from the sleeping water, | |
| While airily, eerily, there on high | |
| Sang the blackbird pert from his ‘teeter-totter.’ |
1895. N. Brit. Daily Mail, 15 Oct., 5. The ‘teter’ or undulating motion, in the present cars is entirely got rid of.
1897. Chicago Advance, 30 Sept., 437/2. We [in the U.S.] are not on a teeter-board and have no need to be incessantly concerned about the balance of power.
2. See quot.
1848. Bartlett, Dict. Amer., Peet-weet … the spotted Sandpiper…, better known … by the name of … Teeter and Tilt-up or Tip-up, from its often repeated grotesque jerking motions.
