POTTER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does potter mean? 

• POTTER (noun)
  The noun POTTER has 1 sense:

1. a craftsman who shapes pottery on a potter's wheel and bakes them it a kiln

  Familiarity information: POTTER used as a noun is very rare.

• POTTER (verb)
  The verb POTTER has 3 senses:

1. do random, unplanned work or activities or spend time idly

2. work lightly

3. move around aimlessly

  Familiarity information: POTTER used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• POTTER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A craftsman who shapes pottery on a potter's wheel and bakes them it a kiln

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

ceramicist; ceramist; potter; thrower

Hypernyms ("potter" is a kind of...):

artificer; artisan; craftsman; journeyman (a skilled worker who practices some trade or handicraft)

Instance hyponyms:

Josiah Spode; Spode (English potter who started a pottery famous for its bone china (1754-1827))

Josiah Wedgwood; Wedgwood (English potter (1730-1795))

• POTTER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they potter    ... he / she / it potters   
Past simple: pottered   
Past participle: pottered   
-ing form: pottering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Do random, unplanned work or activities or spend time idly

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

mess around; monkey; monkey around; muck about; muck around; potter; putter; tinker

Context example:

The old lady is usually mucking about in her little house

Hypernyms (to "potter" is one way to...):

work (exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "potter"):

puddle (mess around, as in a liquid or paste)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

potterer (a person who putters about)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Work lightly

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

potter; putter

Context example:

The old lady is pottering around in the garden

Hypernyms (to "potter" is one way to...):

busy; occupy (keep busy with)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

potterer (a person who putters about)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Move around aimlessly

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

potter; potter around; putter; putter around

Hypernyms (to "potter" is one way to...):

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

potterer (a person who putters about)

 Context examples 

All were busy at home, John absent till night, and nothing to do but sew, or read, or potter about.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He was alive, painfully alive, to the great universal things, and yet he was compelled to potter and grope among schoolboy topics and debate whether or not he should study Latin.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Potter made the new find on the site of a 2010 excavation, where the cremated remains of another young Ice-Age child were previously found.

(Archaeologists discover remains of Ice-Age infants in Alaska, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)