Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1724-1933, 1995-2005
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STOITER, v., n., adv. Also stoitre, stoyter; steit(t)er, steyter, styt(t)er, stit(t)er; stouter (Fif.), and with alternative dim. ending stoitle. [′stɔitər, ′stəitər, Fif. ′stʌutər]
I. v. 1. To walk unsteadily, to stagger, wobble, reel, totter (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 186, styter; Arg. 1882 Arg. Herald (3 June); Cai., Gall. 1904 E.D.D.; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein; Rxb. 1942 Zai; L, ne.Sc., em.Sc., Lnk., sm. and s.Sc. 1971). Also fig.; to lose one's balance and fall over, like an old or infirm person (Lth. 1825 Jam., stoitle o'er).Sc. 1724 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) III. 90:
Quhen staggirand and swaggirand, They stovter Hame to sleip.Lnl. 1768 W. Wilkie Fables 121:
See how it [crab] steitters.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 143:
Till he can lend the stoitering state a lift.Ayr. 1787 Burns Letters (Ferguson) No. 112:
I can hardly stoiter but an ben.Kcb. 1808 J. Mayne Siller Gun 23:
To keep some, fitter for their bed, Frae stoit'ring owr.Sc. 1827 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) III. 266:
Stoiterin and stacherin and tumblin.Per. 1842 R. Nicoll Poems 24:
Now, wi' a staff, about the dykes, He stoiters, auld and beld and wan.m.Lth. 1857 Misty Morning 236:
We maun jist hae stitter'd aff the straught somehow or ither.Fif. 1862 St Andrews Gazette (25 July):
Tam stouterin' awa' hame near blind.Sh. 1886 J. Burgess Sketches 87:
Stoiterin' wi' age an' mony infirmities.Ags. 1901 W. J. Milne Reminiscences 63:
He stoitert roon near tae whaur I was hodin'.Lnk. 1912 W. Wingate Poems (1919) 82:
It made ye caulder on frosty days To see him stoiter aboot.Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 11:
Eis beiceecle steitert aneth um.Kcd. 1933 L. G. Gibbon Cloud Howe (1937) 116:
He went shoggling and stitering about the room.Abd. 1995 Sheena Blackhall Lament for the Raj 6:
Altho he niver steers frae hame
The tortoise, like a flittin,
Styters doon the pathie. Abd. 2005:
I some doot e drink's garrin im styter.
2. To stumble or falter in speech, to stammer, stutter (Kcb. 1971). Ppl.adj. stytering, halting, of speech.Per. 1835 R. Nicoll Poems 86:
If I try to speak saftly, I'll look unco blue, An' stoiter an' stammer.Sc. 1885 Life Stevenson (Balfour 1922) 233:
The wersh, sapless, fushionless, stotty, stytering South Scotch they [the English] think sae muckle o'.
II. n. 1. A staggering motion, stumble, a reeling about (Sc. 1808 Jam., stoiter, stoitle; Sh., ne.Sc., Ags., Fif., Wgt. 1971). Comb. stoiter-shaughle, used as a nickname of a weak-legged, tottery person. The assertion in the 1827 quot. that this was applied to James VI has no foundation.Sc. 1827 M. & M. Corbett Odd Volume iii.:
A shambling uncertainty to his gait, which procured him [King James VI] the familiar cognomen of stoiter-shaughle.Rnf. 1830 A. Picken Dominie's Legacy I. 137:
She never geid farther than a stoitre or a stumble after that.m.Sc. 1838 A. Rodger Poems 48:
Wi' a stoiter to this side, to that side a stap.
2. A stroll, a saunter.Abd. 1929 Abd. Weekly Jnl. (21 March) 6:
Wull ye tak' a stoiter doon tae the Post Office the morn?
¶3. The smallest piece of anything (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 186). Poss. a different word and not otherwise authenticated.
III. adv. With a tottering step or gait, stumblingly (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 186).Lth. 1871 T. Logan Green Glens 19:
When grumphie went stoiter amang the mare's heels.