tootle

[toot-l]

verb (used without object)

tootled, tootling 

1. to toot gently or repeatedly on a flute or the like.

2. to move or proceed in a leisurely way.

noun

1. the sound made by tooting on a flute or the like.

tootle

¹

/ ˈtuːtəl /

verb

1. to toot or hoot softly or repeatedly

   the flute tootled quietly

noun

1. a soft hoot or series of hoots

tootle

²

/ ˈtuːtəl /

verb

1. (intr) to go, esp by car

noun

1. a drive, esp a short pleasure trip

Other Word Forms

• tootler noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of tootle¹

First recorded in 1810–20; toot ¹ + -le

Word History and Origins

Origin of tootle¹

C19: from _toot ¹

Origin of tootle²

C19: from _tootle ¹ , imitative of the horn of a car

Example Sentences

Why did my parents permit a 14-year-old to tootle around with a de facto grown man who was old enough to serve in the army?

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

In the end it would be Boxing Day 2021, three months later, before he could return to the Forest of Dean, and "tootle down" the track where he'd injured himself.

Read more on BBC

Upstairs, Zella Powers, 85, worked on one of the library’s public computers, just reading the news, tootling around, one of a few dozen people a day who come to use the library’s internet.

Read more on Seattle Times

"They're more than happy for him to be tootling along behind them in his chair."

Read more on BBC

And he gamely rents a golf cart and tootles around the Villages, the enormous senior housing community in the middle of Florida that’s beginning to fill up with you-know-whoomers.

Read more on New York Times

Related Words

• beep 
• blare