Dictionary

stotter en · VERB

Etymology

From Middle English stoteren (compare also participle Middle English staterand (“staggering; tottering; stumbling”)), a frequentative form of Middle English stoten (“to stumble”), related to Dutch stoten (“to push; bump; butt; stumble against”), German stoßen (“to push; butt; knock; bump”), Icelandic stauta (“to struggle through; pound; grind”).

Meanings

1. (Northern-England, Scotland, dialectal, intransitive) To stagger; totter; stumble
   • When she sang in the kirk, folk have told me that they had a foretaste of the musick of the New Jerusalem, and when she came in by the village of Caulds old men stottered to their doors to look at her. 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

Forms