Also 3–5 toter, 6 tottre. [Appears first c. 1200; has the form of a frequentative from a stem tot-, expressing instability or unstable movement. Perh. from Norse: cf. Norw. dial. tutra, totra to quiver, shake (Ross), Sw. dial. tuttra (Rietz). The sense is found in Flem. & Du. touteren to swing, though it is difficult to connect this phonologically: cf. TOLTER v.]
† 1. intr. To swing to and fro, esp. at the end of a rope; fig. to waver, vacillate. Obs.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 135. Ne mid fote sitten toterinde.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 387. Men of Athene heng vp ropes in þe ayer and men totrede þeron and meued hider and þider [orig. huc et illuc agitabantur]. Ibid. [see TOTTER sb.1 1].
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 498/1. Toteron, or waveron, vacillo.
1552. [see TOTTER sb.1 1].
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., III. 47. It should seem that before the breaking of the yolke, that the yolke did hang playing or tottering within the white.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, I. iii. 129. Manie likelihoods … which hung so tottring in the ballance.
† b. spec. To swing from the gallows, to be hanged. Obs.
c. 1530. Hickscorner, B ij b. That is a knauysshe sight to se them totter on a beme.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 122. Diogenes … had a greate zele … to see theim euery one swyngyng & tottreyng in halters.
1556. J. Heywood, Spider & F., xv. 13. If they be had, they shall hang therupone, And yet if they totter twenty togyther, Still do theeues rob there.
1623–33. Fletcher & Shirley, Night-Walker, III. v. I would lose a limb, to see their rogueships totter.
† c. To play at see-saw. Cf. TITTER-TOTTER.
1530. Palsgr., 760/1. I totter to and fro, as chylder do whan they play…, je ballance.… Totter nat to moche leste you fall.
† 2. To move up and down or to and fro, as a ship on the waves; to toss, to pitch. Obs.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., C. 233. Þenne þaȝ her takel were torne, þat totored on yþez.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 4294. Other … In the water swam and flotered, And there schippis a-boute totered.
1596. Edward III., III. i. 170. Then might ye see the reeling vessels split, And tottering sink into the ruthlesse floud.
3. To rock or shake to and fro on its base, as if about to overbalance or collapse; † in quot. c. 1400, to tremble.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 9717. Thei sat toterynge as it were gece—What for the strokes & the hete.
1522. More, De Quat. Noviss., Wks. 99. The hands trimbling … and the feete totteryng.
1576. Pettie, Petite Pallace, 33. As a tree hewen downe with axes, redy to fal…, tottereth euery way, being vncertayne which way to fal.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, II. 384. Troy nods from high, and totters to her fall.
1775. Sheridan, St. Patr. Day, II. ii. I was … taken with a sudden giddiness, and Humphrey seeing me beginning to totter, ran to my assistance.
1836. Marryat, Midsh. Easy, xxx. Her mainmast was seen to totter, and then to fall over the side.
b. fig. or in fig. context.
1610. Shaks., Temp., III. ii. 8. If th’other two be brain’d like vs, the State totters.
1641. Milton, Ch. Govt., i. Wks. 1851, III. 100. So long as the Church is mounted upon the Prelaticall Cart … it will but shake and totter.
1719. Young, Revenge, IV. i. O forbear! You totter on the very brink of ruin.
a. 1774. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 173. Their faith … will be apt to shake and totter grievously in the storms of opposition.
1874. Green, Short Hist., v. § 1. 221. From the day of Cressy feudalism tottered slowly but surely to its grave.
† c. To oscillate, vibrate, rock (without any notion of falling). Obs. rare.
1668. Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., I. xi. 27. The use of which bones, is to hinder that the valve do not easily totter.
1678. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., iv. 64. Not letting the Plain totter to or from you-wards.
4. To walk or move with unsteady steps; to go shakily or feebly; to toddle; also, to walk with difficulty; to reel, stagger.
1602. Marston, Ant. & Mel., I. Wks. 1856, I. 17. He totterd from the reeling decke.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 489. Chinese women … may be said to totter rather than to walk.
1797. Downing, Disorders Horned Cattle, etc., 106. When the staggers and convulsive symptoms arise, the horse … is feeble, reels and totters about as he moves.
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., xix. The old blind woman arose, assumed her staff,… tottering to her hut.
1863. W. C. Baldwin, Afr. Hunting, vii. 280. Three niggers staggering after us with as much as ever they could totter under.
b. trans. (nonce-uses.) (a) To make (one’s way) totteringly. (b) To carry with tottering steps.
1846. Mrs. Gore, Eng. Char. (1852), 57. Poor Corney tottered his way from the miserable cellar of St. Giles’s … towards the fashionable quarter of the town.
1864. Lowell, Fireside Trav., 280. After our little bearers [mules] had tottered us up and down the dusky steeps.
† 5. trans. To cause to shake to and fro, to rock; to render unstable. Also fig. Obs.
1615. T. Adams, White Devill, 45. There is some disobedient and fugitive Jonasses that thus totter our ship.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Hum. Lieut., I. i. Earthquakes To shake and totter my designs.
a. 1693. Urquhart’s Rabelais, III. Prol. 7. He … totter’d it, lifted it,… transpos’d it, transplaced it.
