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:
"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 Dame Rose Macaulay
Think of the people to whom your bottles of footle go!
From Tono Bungay by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
Looking at me through the footle, distorted little microscope of their own silly scrubby little souls!
From Ptomaine Street by Carolyn Wells
SETTEE, do try not to footle like this!
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 100, January 3, 1891 by Various
Now, really, Settee, do try not to footle like this!
From Voces Populi by F. Anstey
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
Race and gender are weighty issues, but there is another, more footling, prejudice that Strong Island will have to overcome if it is to take the Oscar on Sunday.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 2, 2018
Still, he was expected to risk body and bone in a footling contest.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 23, 2010
Seems as if everything were too small and footling to matter.
From Notwithstanding by Mary Cholmondeley
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.
