different between totter vs writhe

English

Etymology

From Middle English totren, toteren, from earlier *tolteren (compare dialectal English tolter (“to struggle, flounder”); Scots tolter (“unstable, wonky”)), from Old English tealtrian (“to totter, vacillate”), from Proto-Germanic *taltr?n?, a frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *talt?n? (“to sway, dangle, hesitate”), from Proto-Indo-European *del-, *dul- (“to shake, hesitate”). Cognate with Dutch touteren (“to tremble”), Norwegian dialectal totra (“to quiver, shake”), North Frisian talt, tolt (“unstable, shaky”). Related to tilt.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?t?t?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?t??t?/
• Rhymes: -?t?(r)

Verb

totter (third-person singular simple present totters, present participle tottering, simple past and past participle tottered) (intransitive)

1. To walk, move or stand unsteadily or falteringly; threatening to fall.
2. (figuratively) To be on the brink of collapse.
3. (archaic) To collect junk or scrap.

Synonyms

• (move unsteadily): reel, teeter, toddle, stagger, sway

Derived terms

• teeter-totter
• totterer
• tottergrass
• tottering
• totteringly
• tottersome
• tottery

Translations

Noun

totter (plural totters)

1. An unsteady movement or gait.
2. (archaic) A rag and bone man.

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English writhen, from Old English wr?þan, from Proto-West Germanic *wr?þan, from Proto-Germanic *wr?þan? (“to weave, twist, turn”) (compare Old High German r?dan (“to wind, turn”), Old Norse ríða (“to wind”)), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyt- (“to twist, writhe”). Compare Lithuanian ri?sti (“to unbend, wind, roll”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: r?th, IPA^(key): /?a?ð/
• Rhymes: -a?ð

Verb

writhe (third-person singular simple present writhes, present participle writhing, simple past writhed or (archaic) wrothe, past participle writhed or (archaic) writhen)

1. (transitive) To twist, to wring (something).
2. (transitive) To contort (a part of the body).
   • 1906, Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman:

     She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good.

     She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood.

     They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,

     Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,

     Cold, on the stroke of midnight,

     The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

3. (intransitive) To twist or contort the body; to be distorted.
4. (transitive) To extort.

Translations

Noun

writhe (plural writhes)

1. (rare) A contortion.
2. (knot theory) The number of negative crossings subtracted from the number of positive crossings in a knot

Anagrams

• Wither, whiter, wither, wither-

Middle English

Verb

writhe

1. Alternative form of writhen