footle
Americanverb (used without object)
noun
verb
-
to loiter aimlessly; potter
-
to talk nonsense
noun
Etymology
Origin of footle
First recorded in 1890–95; origin uncertain; cf. footy
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Now, really, Settee, do try not to footle like this!
From Voces Populi by Anstey, F.
"I suppose you'll just footle, then," his friend had summed it up, and left him, because it was half-past six, and they had dinner at that strange hour.
From The Lee Shore by Macaulay, Rose, Dame
SETTEE, do try not to footle like this!
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 100, January 3, 1891 by Various
Of course, he would just footle; he always had.
From The Lee Shore by Macaulay, Rose, Dame
Albeit to young Mr Benny pure literature made no appeal, and had even been summarised by him as "footle," in the business of advertising he developed a curious literary twist.
From Hocken and Hunken by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir
About two hours later, it was recognised Arthur was "an unanticipated footling breech", the Record of Inquest states.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2023
That left Jonathan with lifelong feelings of guilt, which led him on several occasions to announce that he was abandoning what he once called “this footling flibbertigibbet world of theater.”
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 27, 2019
The problem is, almost certainly, with the script itself – its footling dialogue about what to wear and rationing, its flurries of melodrama.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 6, 2013
Still, he was expected to risk body and bone in a footling contest.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 23, 2010
We have run down a lot of footling spies, too stupid to give us a minute's anxiety, but this man who cut the Antinous's wires is of a different calibre altogether.
From The Lost Naval Papers by Copplestone, Bennet
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
