maunder

American  

[mawn-der] / ˈmɔn dər /

verb (used without object)

1. to talk in a rambling, foolish, or meaningless way.

2. to move, go, or act in an aimless, confused manner.

   He maundered through life without a single ambition.

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maunder British  

/ ˈmɔːndə /

verb

1. (intr) to move, talk, or act aimlessly or idly

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Other Word Forms

• maunderer noun
• maundering adjective

Etymology

Origin of maunder

First recorded in 1615–25; origin uncertain

Explanation

When you maunder, you talk in a rambling mutter. People being questioned by reporters should try to answer articulately — they shouldn't just maunder in response. The difference between a great speech and an interminably boring one is that a good speaker keeps it short (and often funny), but a bad one tends to maunder in a mumbling voice. A novelist who tends to have her characters maunder on endlessly needs a skilled editor. Although maunder sometimes also means "wander aimlessly," it doesn't come from the similar meander but probably from a root meaning "to beg."

Example Sentences

There they paid $1 apiece for the benefit of the French Hospital, were permitted last week to maunder through two small rooms hung with 51 modernist French paintings of the first rank.

From Time Magazine Archive

The second half of the picture tends to maunder a little, and the whole film is afflicted by Producer David Selznick's rather tacky preference for gnarled trees silhouetted against flaming sunsets.

From Time Magazine Archive

Horsemen sputter and maunder when asked to specify reasons for the success of the few truly great riders.

From Time Magazine Archive

Nor will any go to law,   With a maunder for a straw,   All which happiness he brags,   Is only owing to his rags.

From Musa Pedestris - Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes [1536 - 1896] by Farmer, John Stephen

On losing his Tullia, some father of to-day 168would keep it all in his heart, would not maunder out his sorrows.

From The Life of Cicero Volume One by Trollope, Anthony