putter

¹ American  

[puht-er] / ˈpʌt ər /

verb (used without object)

putters, present (3rd person singular) puttered, past participle, past puttering present participle

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.

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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.

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putter ³ American  

[poot-er] / ˈpʊt ər /

noun

1. a person or thing that puts.

2. Track. a shot-putter.

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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)

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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

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putter ³ British  

/ ˈpʊtə /

noun

1. a person who puts

   the putter of a question

2. a person who puts the shot

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• putteringly
  adverb
• putterer
  noun

Conjugated Forms

Present

• have puttered
  perfect
• has puttered
  perfect 3rd person singular
• has been puttering
  perfect progressive 3rd person singular
• are puttering
  progressive
• have been puttering
  perfect progressive
• is puttering
  progressive 3rd person singular
• am puttering
  progressive 1st person singular
• puttering
  participle
• putters
  singular 3rd person

Past

• had puttered
  perfect
• was puttering
  progressive singular
• were puttering
  progressive plural
• had been puttering
  perfect progressive
• puttered
  simple
• puttered
  participle

Future

• will putter
  simple
• will have puttered
  perfect
• will be puttering
  progressive
• will have been puttering
  perfect progressive

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

“When I’m working, I just don’t cook at all basically, and then when I get time off I like to putter around in the kitchen. I’m not very good, but I like to do it.”

From MarketWatch • Jun. 11, 2026

They allow gimmes if the putt is within the shaft of your putter.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 5, 2026

He said the past two weeks had boosted his confidence in his putter, and it certainly showed as he needed just 22 putts, gaining more than five strokes on the field on the greens.

From Barron's • Feb. 13, 2026

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

I putter along at 25 kph, the rover's top speed.

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

Related Words

• loiter