pother

English

Etymology

Origin uncertain. Compare Dutch peuteren (“to rummage, poke”), and English potter, pudder.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpʌðə/, /ˈpɒðə/
• Rhymes: -ʌðə(ɹ)
• Rhymes: -ɒðə(ɹ)

Noun

pother (countable and uncountable, plural pothers)

1. A commotion, a tempest.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Let the great gods, / That keep this dreadful pother o’er our heads, / Find out their enemies now.

   • 1941, Lewiston Morning Tribune, 14th of May:

     (name of the article) Flight Of Hess Causes Pother Among Germans

   • 1951, C. S. Lewis, chapter 5, in Prince Caspian, Collins, published 1998:

     After some years there came a time when the Queen seemed to be ill and there was a great deal of bustle and pother about her in the castle and doctors came and the courtiers whispered.

Translations

a commotion, a tempest

• Bulgarian: смут (bg) m (smut), суматоха (bg) f (sumatoha)
• Russian: шу́м (ru) m (šúm), сумато́ха (ru) f (sumatóxa), волне́ние (ru) n (volnénije)

Verb

pother (third-person singular simple present pothers, present participle pothering, simple past and past participle pothered)

1. (intransitive) To make a bustle or stir; to be fussy.
2. (transitive) To puzzle or perplex.

Anagrams

• Thorpe, Topher, tephro-, thorpe