dither

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To hesitate and be unable to decide what to do.

   Stop dithering and just choose a restaurant.

2. 2
   noun

   A state of nervous, agitated indecision.

   She was in a dither about what to wear to the party.

Variant of didder, from Middle English dideren (“to tremble”). Compare Middle English bididren, bididdren (“to seduce, deceive”), from Old English bedidrian, bedyderian (“to deceive, trick”). Alternatively, perhaps with expressive voicing from *titeren, from Proto-Germanic *titrōną. If so, then a doublet of teeter and cognate with Old High German zittarōn (German zittern) and Old Norse titra (Faroese titra, Icelandic titra). Alternatively an unrelated reduplicative onomatopoeia.

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