loiter
to stand around doing nothing
TRANSLATION
loiter = trödeln, sich herumdrücken (woerterbuch.info) --- GOOGLE INDEX loiter: approximately 5,000,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Police said the man may have been LOITERING outside until the store was empty and urged customers who noticed anything suspicious to contact them.
(BBC News)
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Neighbors who live near the Harundale section of the trail said that they are concerned about a group of teenagers and young adults who LOITER in a park…
(The Baltimore Sun)
(BBC News)
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Neighbors who live near the Harundale section of the trail said that they are concerned about a group of teenagers and young adults who LOITER in a park…
(The Baltimore Sun)
Did you
know?
loiter
verb
- to move slowly around or stand especially in a public place without an obvious reason
- to go slowly, stopping often
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
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WORD ORIGIN
Etymology: 1362, from Middle Dutch loteren "be loose or erratic, shake, totter" like a loose tooth or a sail in a storm. In modern Dutch leuteren, "to delay, linger, loiter over one's work." Probably related to Old English lutian "lurk," and loddere "beggar."
The idea of loitering sounds harmless, but there are many communities around the world where it is illegal to just "hang around." Loitering laws go back as far as 16th century England. The assumption, then and now, is that people who congregate and stand around in public areas run the risk of creating a disturbance, bothering other people or committing a crime. In the United States, a Chicago anti-loitering law was found unconstitutional by the Unites States Supreme Court because it violated the First Amendment right to assemble.
Co-op stores in two UK towns took a creative approach to the problem of loitering youths by playing classical music in their shops. The youngsters went elsewhere after a week. A spokeswoman for the stores said: "Classical music makes our shops less cool as places for youngsters to hang around. It is early days, but it does appear to be successful."
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SYNONYMS
amble, dabble, dally, dawdle, delay, diddle, drag, flag, fritter away, get no place fast, hang around. hover, idle, lag, linger, loaf, loll, lounge, pass time, pause, procrastinate, put off, ramble, saunter, shamble, shuffle, slacken, tarry, trail, wait, waste time
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SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"It is irritating when people loiter near my office and talk loudly."
verb
- to move slowly around or stand especially in a public place without an obvious reason
- to go slowly, stopping often
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
---
WORD ORIGIN
Etymology: 1362, from Middle Dutch loteren "be loose or erratic, shake, totter" like a loose tooth or a sail in a storm. In modern Dutch leuteren, "to delay, linger, loiter over one's work." Probably related to Old English lutian "lurk," and loddere "beggar."
The idea of loitering sounds harmless, but there are many communities around the world where it is illegal to just "hang around." Loitering laws go back as far as 16th century England. The assumption, then and now, is that people who congregate and stand around in public areas run the risk of creating a disturbance, bothering other people or committing a crime. In the United States, a Chicago anti-loitering law was found unconstitutional by the Unites States Supreme Court because it violated the First Amendment right to assemble.
Co-op stores in two UK towns took a creative approach to the problem of loitering youths by playing classical music in their shops. The youngsters went elsewhere after a week. A spokeswoman for the stores said: "Classical music makes our shops less cool as places for youngsters to hang around. It is early days, but it does appear to be successful."
---
SYNONYMS
amble, dabble, dally, dawdle, delay, diddle, drag, flag, fritter away, get no place fast, hang around. hover, idle, lag, linger, loaf, loll, lounge, pass time, pause, procrastinate, put off, ramble, saunter, shamble, shuffle, slacken, tarry, trail, wait, waste time
---
SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"It is irritating when people loiter near my office and talk loudly."
