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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.

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.