loiter

From Middle English loitren, from Middle Dutch loteren ("to shake, wag, wobble"; > modern Dutch leuteren (“to dawdle, ramble”)), ultimately connected with a frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *lūtaną (“to bend, stoop, cower, shrink from, decline”), see lout. Cognate with Dutch leuteren (“to dawdle”), Alemannic German lottern (“to wobble”), German Lotterbube (“rascal”). More at lout, little.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɔɪtə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlɔɪtɚ/, [ˈlɔɪɾɚ]

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɔɪtə(ɹ)

loiter (third-person singular simple present loiters, present participle loitering, simple past and past participle loitered)

1. To stand about without any aim or purpose; to stand about idly.

   Synonyms: (Malaysia, Singapore) lepak, linger, hang around

   For some reason, they discourage loitering outside the store, but encourage it inside.

2. To remain at a certain place instead of moving on.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), OCLC 630079698, page 47:

     The dancing, which had been suspended, now recommenced with additional animation, and De Candale claimed Francesca's hand; but the rooms were crowded, and they stood for some time loitering on one of the terraces.

   • 2015 January 31, Daniel Taylor, “David Silva seizes point for Manchester City as Chelsea are checked”, in The Guardian‎, London, archived from the original on 8 March 2017:

     [Sergio] Agüero, as usual, was loitering with intent and swung his left foot at the ball. The shot was going wide but [David] Silva was there to apply the decisive touch inside the six-yard area.

   • 2019, Li Huang; James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, DOI:10.1080/01434632.2019.1596115, page 4:

     Using the transect method, the counter had to maintain a general progress along the transect and was not able to loiter at one spot for too long.

3. (military, aviation) For an aircraft to remain in the air near a target.

loiter (plural loiters)

1. A standing or strolling about without any aim or purpose.
   • 1865, Edward Spooner, Parson and People (page 125)

     Oh, Sir, we just got up in the morning and had a loiter and a pipe on the green; then we got our breakfasts; […]

• loiter time

• Loiret, Lortie, toiler, triole