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Showing results for tootle. Search instead for tootling.
Synonyms

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.


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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. a soft hoot or series of hoots

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
tootle 2 British  
/ ˈtuːtəl /

verb

  1. (intr) to go, esp by car

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. a drive, esp a short pleasure trip

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms


Etymology

Origin of tootle

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


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:

Most of the time, you will just tootle around town with it, doing really simple things.

From The Verge ● Dec. 19, 2018

Seinfeld asks comedian Brian Regan, one of his guests, as the two tootle around Los Angeles in a sporty 2006 Cadillac XLR and eventually stop for the requisite cup of coffee.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 8, 2018

As a native Chicagoan who has watched the Rams tootle around UC Irvine in their golf carts, I have to wonder what Dick Butkus would say if he saw them.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2017

"We're happy to tootle along in a two-litre diesel in a Formula 1 race."

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2014

“Best garden pond in the village it'll be, Mr. Broadwas said, once my shrubbery's got a grip. Have a pleasant tootle round Tewkesbury, did we?”

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

I didn’t play on the A side, but I played bass on the B side while my uncle tootled along on harp.

From Salon ● Nov. 30, 2015

Not so long ago, Americans who tootled around foreign countries in athletic attire earned a tourist badge of dishonor.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 6, 2015

With the naïve joy of all these ghosts, they tootled their glittery instruments at us.

From The New Yorker ● Jun. 1, 2015

After dinner on a warmish weeknight—57 degrees in Ann Arbor—a junior picked up his trumpet and tootled a bit of Glenn Miller from his window, just to relax.

From Slate ● May 9, 2013

A man sat on the steps of the trading post and tootled a lively tune on a pakila, or panpipes.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

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 ● Aug. 13, 2023

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 ● Oct. 12, 2022

And what a renewal it was: roaring whales, bellowing elephants, tootling children and moaning freight trains.

From Scientific American ● Mar. 24, 2022

The music is slightly twisted indie rock, riffing with a guitar answered by a tootling keyboard but in 9/4 rather than the usual 4/4; like this election campaign, it keeps knocking itself askew.

From New York Times ● Oct. 14, 2016

The music was tootling, the horses were going round and round, the lights were blazing—and no one was there!

From "Milkweed" by Jerry Spinelli

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