footle

1 be about; "The high school students like to loiter in the Central Square"; "Who is this man that is hanging around the department?" [syn: loiter, lounge, lollygag, loaf, lallygag, hang around, mess about, tarry, linger, lurk, mill about, mill around]

2 act foolishly, as by talking nonsense

English

Pronunciation

fo͞otəl, /fuːtəl/, /fu:t@l/

Rhymes: -uːtəl

Etymology

Probably variant of footer, to screw around, from obsolete fouter, an act of sexual intercourse, from French foutre, to have sexual intercourse, from Latin futuere

Verb

1. To waste time; to trifle.
2. To talk nonsense.

Synonyms

• hang around
• lallygag
• loiter
• lollygag
• mess about
• mill about
• mill around
• tarry
• lounge
• lurk
• linger
• loaf

Derived terms

• footler

Noun

footle

1. nonsense; foolishness.