dotty

Formsdottier, dottiest

Pluraldotties

1. 1
   adjectivecolloquialAustraliaBritish

   Mildly crazy or eccentric, and often confused or forgetful because of old age.

   The neighbors thought him a bit dotty, always talking to his garden gnomes.

   She had grown dottier since her retirement, mixing up the days of the week.

   Similarbatty, eccentric, potty, nutty, scatty

   Oppositesane, lucid

   Note

   Two possible roots lie behind it: dote, as in the doting of old age, or totty, "unsteady, dizzy." In British and Australian colloquial speech it often follows go. Norman Lindsay's Dust or Polish? (1950) has "I should go dotty," and in Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox (1970) a badger is stared at as if he had "gone completely dotty." It compares freely too, as in getting dottier and dottier.

2. 2
   adjective

   Marked or covered with many dots.

   The designer chose a dotty fabric for the children's curtains.

   Her dotty umbrella stood out against the gray crowd.

   Similarspotted, spotty, speckled

   Oppositeplain

   Note

   A separate word that happens to share a spelling with the "eccentric" meaning. It is built plainly from dot + -y, the same way patterned surfaces get many of their names. Context does the sorting: a dotty fabric or a dotty cheetah's coat is marked with spots, but a dotty aunt is something else entirely. When ambiguity threatens, dotted or spotted is the safer choice.

3. 3
   adjectivedatedUK

   Having an unsteady, shaky way of walking.

   Grown frail and dotty on his feet, the old man leaned heavily on his cane.

   Weeks of bed rest had left her dotty and uncertain whenever she stood.

   Similarunsteady, shaky, wobbly, tottery, doddery

   Oppositesteady, firm

   Note

   Here the oddness is in the legs, not the mind. It sits closest to totty, "unsteady, dizzy," one of the two words behind the "eccentric" meaning. Because this British use is now dated, readers will hear the mental sense first. Tie it to the body, as in dotty on her feet, so the walk and not the wits is plainly meant.

4. 4
   noundialectalMulticultural London Englishcountable

   A shotgun: a long-barreled gun that fires a spray of small pellets.

   He loaded the dotty and waited in the blind for the ducks.

   Two dotties hung on the gun rack above the fireplace.

   Similarshotgun

   Note

   Here the word becomes a noun in Multicultural London English slang, taking an article and the plural dotties. It belongs to London rap lyrics: Digga D's "Next Up?" (2017) has the narrator firing one, and Cillian's "Respawn" (2020) prefers it sawn off. Outside that register it will read as borrowed street slang. It shares the dot + -y build of the "many dots" adjective.

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