tootle

American  

[toot-l] / ˈtut 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.

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noun

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

tootle ¹ British  

/ ˈtuːtəl /

verb

1. to toot or hoot softly or repeatedly

   the flute tootled quietly

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noun

1. a soft hoot or series of hoots

tootle ² British  

/ ˈtuːtəl /

verb

1. (intr) to go, esp by car

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noun

1. a drive, esp a short pleasure trip

Other Word Forms

• tootler noun

Etymology

Origin of tootle

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

Example Sentences

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.

From 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.

From Seattle Times

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

From 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.

From New York Times

Angela Lansbury is a tweedy country eccentric in wartime England, tootling around on a bronchitic sidecar motorbike and receiving mysterious parcels from a professor in London.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• beep
• blare