loiter

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To stand or wait around a place with no clear purpose.

   A group of teenagers was loitering outside the shop after dark.

2. 2
   verb

   To move slowly and delay, instead of going straight on.

   Don't loiter on the way home; dinner will be ready soon.

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 lottern (“live a slovenly life”). More at lout, little.

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