different between pother vs bother

English

Etymology

Origin uncertain. Compare Dutch peuteren (“to rummage, poke”), and English potter, pudder.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?ð?/, /?p?ð?/
• Rhymes: -?ð?(?)
• Rhymes: -?ð?(?)

Noun

pother (countable and uncountable, plural pothers)

1. A commotion, a tempest.
   • 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear III.ii:

     Let the great gods, / That keep this dreadful pother o’er our heads, / Find out their enemies now.

   • 1941, Lewiston Morning Tribune, 14th of May:

     (name of the article) Flight Of Hess Causes Pother Among Germans

   • 1951, C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian, Collins, 1998, Chapter 5,

     After some years there came a time when the Queen seemed to be ill and there was a great deal of bustle and pother about her in the castle and doctors came and the courtiers whispered.

Translations

Verb

pother (third-person singular simple present pothers, present participle pothering, simple past and past participle pothered)

1. (intransitive) To make a bustle or stir; to be fussy.
2. (transitive) To puzzle or perplex.

Anagrams

• Thorpe, Topher, tephro-, thorpe

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Scots bauther, bather (“to bother”). Origin unknown. Perhaps related to Scots pother (“to make a stir or commotion, bustle”), also of unknown origin. Compare English pother (“to poke, prod”), variant of potter (“to poke”). More at potter. Perhaps related to Irish bodhaire (“noise”), Irish bodhraim (“to deafen, annoy”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: b??-th?r, IPA^(key): /?b?ð??/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): [?b?ð?(?)]
• (UK) IPA^(key): [?b?ð?(?)]
  • Rhymes: -?ð?(r)
• (US) IPA^(key): [?b?ð?]

Verb

bother (third-person singular simple present bothers, present participle bothering, simple past and past participle bothered)

1. (transitive) To annoy, to disturb, to irritate.

2. (intransitive) To feel care or anxiety; to make or take trouble; to be troublesome.
3. (intransitive) To do something which is of negligible inconvenience.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive or the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Synonyms

• (annoy): annoy, disturb, irritate, put out, vex; see also Thesaurus:annoy
• (make or take trouble): care, mind; see also Thesaurus:care

Derived terms

• bebother

Translations

References

Noun

bother (countable and uncountable, plural bothers)

1. Fuss, ado.

   There was a bit of bother at the hairdresser's when they couldn't find my appointment in the book.
2. Trouble, inconvenience.

   Yes, I can do that for you - it's no bother.

Synonyms

• (fuss, ado): See also Thesaurus:commotion
• (trouble, inconvenience): See also Thesaurus:nuisance

Derived terms

• bothersome
• spot of bother

Translations

Interjection

bother!

1. A mild expression of annoyance.
   • 1926, A A Milne, Winnie the Pooh, Methuen & Co., Ltd., Chapter 2 ...in which Pooh goes visiting and gets into a tight place:

     "Oh, help!" said Pooh. "I'd better go back."

     "Oh, bother!" said Pooh. "I shall have to go on."

     "I can't do either!" said Pooh. "Oh, help and bother!"

Synonyms

• botheration, blast, dang (US), darn, drat, phooey, fiddlesticks

Translations

Related terms

• be bothered
• bothered
• bothersome

Anagrams

• boreth