loiter

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   be about

   The high school students like to loiter in the Central Square

2. 2
   verb

   To stand about without any aim or purpose; to stand about idly.

   For some reason, they discourage loitering outside the store, but encourage it inside.

3. 3
   verb

   To stroll about without any aim or purpose, to ramble, to wander.

   With weary steps I loiter on, ⁠Tho’ always under alter’d skies ⁠The purple from the distance dies, My prospect and horizon gone.

4. 4
   verb

   To remain at a certain place instead of moving on.

   The dancing, which had been suspended, now recommenced with additional animation, and De Candale claimed Francesca's hand; but the rooms were crowded, and they stood for some time loitering on one of the terraces.

5. 5
   noun

   A standing or strolling about without any aim or purpose.

   Oh, Sir, we just got up in the morning and had a loiter and a pipe on the green; then we got our breakfasts; […]

6. 6
   verb

   For an aircraft to remain in the air near a target.

Etymology

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.