putter

¹ American  

[puht-er] / ˈpʌt ər /

verb (used without object)

1. to busy or occupy oneself in a leisurely, casual, or ineffective manner.

   to putter in the garden.

2. to move or go in a specified manner with ineffective action or little energy or purpose.

   to putter about the house on a rainy day.

3. to move or go slowly or aimlessly; loiter.

---

noun

1. puttering or ineffective action; dawdling.

verb phrase

1. putter away to spend or fill in a random, inconsequential, or unproductive way; fritter away; waste.

   We puttered the morning away.

putter ² American  

[puht-er] / ˈpʌt ər /

noun

Golf.

1. a person who putts.

2. a club with a relatively short, stiff shaft and a wooden or iron head, used in putting.

---

putter ³ American  

[poot-er] / ˈpʊt ər /

noun

1. a person or thing that puts.

2. Track. a shot-putter.

---

putter ¹ British  

/ ˈpʌtə /

verb

1. (intr;often foll by about or around) to busy oneself in a desultory though agreeable manner

2. (intr;often foll by along or about) to move with little energy or direction

   to putter about town

3. to waste (time)

---

noun

1. the act of puttering

putter ² British  

/ ˈpʌtə /

noun

1. a club for putting, usually having a solid metal head

2. a golfer who putts

---

putter ³ British  

/ ˈpʊtə /

noun

1. a person who puts

   the putter of a question

2. a person who puts the shot

---

Other Word Forms

• putterer noun
• putteringly adverb

Etymology

Origin of putter¹

First recorded in 1825–30; variant of potter ²

Origin of putter²

First recorded in 1740–50; putt + -er ¹

Origin of putter³

First recorded in 1570–90; put + -er ¹

Explanation

A golfer who hits the ball very gently close to the hole is a putter. The club used to do this is also a putter. But to putter is to poke around aimlessly, maybe watch a little golf on TV. In golf, the putter is the club with the flat face, and sometimes with a slightly bent shaft. When you hit the ball with a putter, you putt. If you putter, it's something completely different — it means you make yourself busy without accomplishing anything huge. You might putter around the house on Saturday afternoon, filling the dishwasher and flipping through a magazine, for example. The golfing meaning comes from a Scottish word for "push or shove."

Example Sentences

I think I’m just a serial putterer, in that I putter around and I don’t know what I’m doing a lot of the time.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 12, 2025

"My tee shot and putter were the things I was focusing on and I really practiced them a lot. I think that was the foundation to my success today," Lee said through a translator.

From Barron's • Nov. 20, 2025

But Riggs knew something was working when Tseng called him after her first afternoon with a new lefty putter.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 29, 2025

The mallet putter made its debut in his next event and Scheffler won four of his following five tournaments, including the Masters by four strokes.

From BBC • Jul. 15, 2025

Out of the corners of his eyes he watched her go to the stove and putter with pots and pans.

From "Native Son" by Richard Wright

Related Words

• loiter