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.

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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

• 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

And she presented the president with Abe’s putter and a golf bag signed by Japanese professional golfer Hideki Matsuyama.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 28, 2025

Again, Scheffler blamed his failings with the putter - the weakest part of his game - even though he did rally with a couple of late birdies.

From BBC • Sep. 26, 2025

Ever since her own parents died, these visits from her mother-in-law had taken on extra importance, and she’d putter around the house, cleaning and cooking, biting her nails as she went.

From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller

Related Words

• loiter