putter
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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putters,
present (3rd person singular)
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puttered,
past participle, past
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puttering
present participle
-
to busy or occupy oneself in a leisurely, casual, or ineffective manner.
to putter in the garden.
-
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.
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to move or go slowly or aimlessly; loiter.
noun
verb phrase
noun
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a person who putts.
-
a club with a relatively short, stiff shaft and a wooden or iron head, used in putting.
verb
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(intr;often foll by about or around) to busy oneself in a desultory though agreeable manner
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(intr;often foll by along or about) to move with little energy or direction
to putter about town
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to waste (time)
noun
noun
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a club for putting, usually having a solid metal head
-
a golfer who putts
noun
-
a person who puts
the putter of a question
-
a person who puts the shot
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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puttersimple
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putterssimple
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have putteredperfect
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has putteredperfect
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am putteringprogressive
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are putteringprogressive
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is putteringprogressive
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have been putteringperfect progressive
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has been putteringperfect progressive
Past
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putteredsimple
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had putteredperfect
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was putteringprogressive
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were putteringprogressive
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had been putteringperfect progressive
Future
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
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
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:
“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
And as Rai’s putter heated up, including with a 68-footer for birdie on No. 17, he built a three-stroke margin of victory.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026
Driver, putter and ball are usually the most crucial elements, so the move is not as drastic as it might appear.
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 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
Seven years later John and I split up because he had been a farm boy who wanted a wife to putter about the house and have babies.
From "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals
The occasion often feels tacked-on amid the barbecues and the shiny putters trotted out like obligations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
He focused on altering the conventional starting point, which has shot putters standing at the back of the ring, facing away from the field.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2024
Chips from tight links turf required absolute precision, often putters were the correct option.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2024
She said she prefers to swap out putters every week and is proud that she has kept this one in play for at least a month.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 8, 2023
As the rickshaw putters along the road, darting through traffic, I drag to my lips the question that's been stuck in my heart for so long.
From "Born Behind Bars" by Padma Venkatraman
The previous record was set 90 years ago — only about three decades after the first cars puttered through Yosemite Valley.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2023
But that was the scene I happened upon at 6:30 p.m. on a Tuesday in mid-April when I puttered into my driveway in Eugene, Oregon, my 7-year-old ensconced in the back seat.
From Slate ● Jun. 21, 2022
Fueled largely by rookie running back Najee Harris and Roethlisberger’s burgeoning trust in rookie tight end Pat Freiermuth, Pittsburgh puttered along by avoiding mistakes and letting the defense do its thing.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 24, 2021
The train slowed, began moving again, slowed once more and then “just puttered to a stop,” she said.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 12, 2021
He just puttered around the store with a silly little grin on his face.
From "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls
Shahed drones have been dubbed "flying mopeds" by Ukrainians because of their puttering engines.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2025
Cortes would often walk from the homestead to Arvia to find his abuelito in the shed out back doing maintenance or puttering at his TV and radio repair business.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2024
The retired truck driver and Gulf War veteran misses mowing the lawn, puttering around his yard and chatting with regulars at the tavern next door.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 25, 2023
On Saturday, an Oakland resident who lives a few miles from the zoo saw one of the crows, Deauville, puttering around the front porch.
From New York Times ● Mar. 28, 2023
He imagines her puttering around the apartment, drawing a bath, pouring herself a glass of wine, her bags in the hallway.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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.
