From Middle English totren, toteren, from earlier *tolteren (compare dialectal English tolter (“to struggle, flounder”); Scots tolter (“unstable, wonky”)), from Old English tealtrian (“to totter, vacillate”), from Proto-Germanic *taltrōną, a frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *taltōną (“to sway, dangle, hesitate”), from Proto-Indo-European *del-, *dul- (“to shake, hesitate”).
Cognate with Dutch touteren (“to tremble”), Norwegian dialectal totra (“to quiver, shake”), North Frisian talt, tolt (“unstable, shaky”). Related to tilt.
From Middle English totren, toteren, from earlier *tolteren (compare dialectal English tolter (“to struggle, flounder”); Scots tolter (“unstable, wonky”)), from Old English tealtrian (“to totter, vacillate”), from Proto-Germanic *taltrōną, a frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *taltōną (“to sway, dangle, hesitate”), from Proto-Indo-European *del-, *dul- (“to shake, hesitate”).
Cognate with Dutch touteren (“to tremble”), Norwegian dialectal totra (“to quiver, shake”), North Frisian talt, tolt (“unstable, shaky”). Related to tilt.
Meanings
(intransitive) To walk, move or stand unsteadily or falteringly; threatening to fall.
The old man tottered out of the pub into the street.
The car tottered on the edge of the cliff.
Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated. 2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884:
The baby tottered from the table to the chair.
(figuratively, intransitive) To be on the brink of collapse.
By the latter part of 1848, the throne of Hudson the Railway King who had been called in in 1845 as a superman to save the Eastern Counties Railway, was tottering to its fall, [...]. 1941 December, Kenneth Brown, “The Newmarket & Chesterford Railway—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 533:
[…]the folly of this Iland, they ſay there's but fiue vpon this Iſle ; we are three of them, if th' other two be brain'd like vs, the State totters. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 11:
hu támolyog (move or stand unsteadily) · sc istontonai (move or stand unsteadily) · la labō (move or stand unsteadily) · nl strompelen (move or stand unsteadily) · de taumeln (move or stand unsteadily) · pl chwiać się (move or stand unsteadily) · nl struikelen (move or stand unsteadily) · hi डगमगाना (move or stand unsteadily) · cs kymácet se (move or stand unsteadily) · mi turori (move or stand unsteadily) · cs zakolísat (move or stand unsteadily) · es tambalearse (move or stand unsteadily) · mi kaurori (move or stand unsteadily) · ru кача́ться (move or stand unsteadily) · sh teturati (move or stand unsteadily) · mi hikoki (move or stand unsteadily) · fr tituber (move or stand unsteadily) · bg клатя се (move or stand unsteadily) · mi tatutatu (move or stand unsteadily) · pl zataczać się (move or stand unsteadily) · cs vrávorat (move or stand unsteadily) · de torkeln (move or stand unsteadily) · el παραπατώ (move or stand unsteadily) · de schwanken (move or stand unsteadily) · ga tuisligh (move or stand unsteadily) · mi kōkeke (move or stand unsteadily) · es bascular (move or stand unsteadily) · la titubō (move or stand unsteadily) · ru шата́ться (move or stand unsteadily) · el παραπαίω (move or stand unsteadily) · hu ingadozik (move or stand unsteadily) · pl zatoczyć się (move or stand unsteadily) · sa हूर्छति (move or stand unsteadily) · bg залитам (move or stand unsteadily) · sc cantzicare (move or stand unsteadily) · hi डोलना (move or stand unsteadily) · es dar tumbos (move or stand unsteadily) · mi hūoioi (move or stand unsteadily) · sdc bantzigà (move or stand unsteadily) · sc trampulinare (move or stand unsteadily) · ru ковыля́ть (move or stand unsteadily) · fi hoippua (move or stand unsteadily) · sc tambulare (move or stand unsteadily) · cs potácet se (move or stand unsteadily) · la cassō (move or stand unsteadily) · el τρεκλίζω (move or stand unsteadily) · hu tántorog (move or stand unsteadily) · hi टलमलाना (move or stand unsteadily) · mi tapepa (move or stand unsteadily) · sc istontonare (move or stand unsteadily) · fi horjua (move or stand unsteadily) · mi tūrorirori (move or stand unsteadily) · hi लंगड़ाना (move or stand unsteadily) · mi ruriruri (move or stand unsteadily) · cs klopýtat (move or stand unsteadily) · it barcollare (move or stand unsteadily) · hi ढलमलाना (move or stand unsteadily) · hi लड़खड़ाना (move or stand unsteadily) · sdc tamburà (move or stand unsteadily)