potter

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. One who makes pots and other ceramic wares.
  2. One who places flowers or other plants inside their pots.
  3. One who pots meats or other eatables.
  4. One who hawks crockery or earthenware.
  5. The red-bellied terrapin, Pseudemys rubriventris (species of turtle).
  6. The chicken turtle, Deirochelys reticularia.
verb
  1. To act in a vague or unmotivated way; to fuss about with unimportant things.
  2. To move slowly or aimlessly. (Often potter about, potter around.)
  3. To poke repeatedly.
noun
  1. A person from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, UK
  2. someone connected with Stoke City Football Club (in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, UK), as a fan, player, coach etc.
name
  1. An English surname originating as an occupation for a potter.
  2. A placename
  3. A number of places in the United States:
  4. An unincorporated community and township in Polk County, Arkansas.
  5. A village in Cheyenne County, Nebraska.
  6. A town in Yates County, New York.
  7. A township in Barnes County, North Dakota.
  8. Two townships in Pennsylvania, in Beaver County and Centre County.
  9. A village in Calumet County, Wisconsin.
  10. Ellipsis of Potter County.
  11. Ellipsis of Harry Potter (“the Wizarding World”).

Pronunciation

/ˈpɒtə/ /ˈpɑtɚ/ en-us-potter.ogg

Word forms

potter potters pottering pottered putter pouter pudder pother

Etymology

From Middle English pottere, from Old English pottere (“potter”, in placenames), from Proto-West Germanic *pottārī (“pot-maker”), equivalent to pot + -er. Influenced by Anglo-Norman poter, Old French potier (“potter”). Cognate with Dutch potter (“potter”), German Low German Pötter, Pütter (“potter”). Displaced Old English synonyms lāmwyrhta (“a worker in clay, potter”, literally “loam-worker”), tiġelwyrhta (“brickmaker, potter”, literally “tile-worker”), crocwyrhta (“crocker, potter”, literally “crock-worker”).

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.