pottering

Pluralpotterings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of potter.

   He was pottering around the shed, sorting screws into old jam jars.

   My mother is happiest pottering about the kitchen on a rainy afternoon.

   Note

   The verb is British, and it often travels with about or around: pottering about the kitchen, pottering around the shed. The -ing form suits it well, since it pictures a pleasant drifting from one small job to the next rather than a task carried through. After be it describes that drifting in progress; as a gerund it names it as a pastime.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act of a person who potters, moving about aimlessly or fussing over small, unimportant jobs.

   There's a lot to be said for an afternoon of gentle pottering.

   Her Saturday potterings around the market rarely ended with a purchase.

   Similarputtering, tinkering, dawdling

   Note

   The noun takes a plural, potterings, for separate aimless outings, and it sits comfortably beside wanderings: "Had Feltram in some of his solitary wanderings and potterings lighted upon hidden treasure?" In the singular it names the pastime as a whole, as in an afternoon of gentle pottering.

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