Pootle

//ˈpuːtəl// noun, verb, slang

noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A stroll; a wandering. British

    "go for a pootle"

Verb
  1. 1
    To wander or ramble in a leisurely, indirect, or aimless manner, such as by walking or driving. British, informal

    "Prince William, in a surprise break from the schedule, borrowed his father's 41-year-old open-topped Aston Martin to pootle down the Mall to Clarence House with his new bride."

Synonyms

All synonyms
potterramblewander

Example

More examples

"Prince William, in a surprise break from the schedule, borrowed his father's 41-year-old open-topped Aston Martin to pootle down the Mall to Clarence House with his new bride."

Etymology

Apparently an alteration of poodle, from German Low German Pudel, from the onomatopoeic term pudeln (“to splash about”) by its merging with tootle. Alternatively, a blending of doodle (to draw aimlessly) with potter (to move aimlessly)—as reported by 1970s English visitors to Australia.

Related phrases

pootle along

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.