v. Sc. and north. [Frequentative f. STOIT v. Cf. north. dial. stotter, stauter, stowter in similar senses (see Eng. Dial. Dict.).] intr. To swerve from side to side in walking; to walk with staggering or tottering steps; also with up.
c. 1730. Ramsay, Vision, xix. They stoyter hame to sleip.
1785. Burns, Jolly Beggars, xvi. At length wi’ drink and courting dizzy, He stoiter’d up and made a face.
1837. R. Nicoll, Poems (1843), 91. Now wi’ a staff about the dykes, He stoiters, auld, and beld and wan.
1893–4. Stevenson, Heathercat, ii. Poor, blind, besotted creature—and I see you stoytering on the brink of dissolution.
Hence Stoitering ppl. a., staggering, tottering. Also Stoiter sb., a stumble; phr. to play stoiter, to stagger.
1789. R. Fergusson, Poems, II. 86. Till he can lend the stoitering state a lift Wi’ gowd in gowpins as a grassum gift.
a. 1838. Rodger, Poems, Colin Dulap, 59. While wauchlin’ alang between sober and fou, Wi’ a stoiter to this side, to that side a stap.
1890. J. Service, Thir Notandums, vi. 31. Laird Speckie played stoiter to a corner and fell asleep.
