verb
loiter
LOY-ter/ˈlɔɪtər/
To remain in a place without an apparent purpose.
Two young men loiter beside a street railing.
Etymology
Loiter first meant idling one’s time or dawdling over work. It may be connected with Middle Dutch loteren, “be loose or erratic,” but that ancestry is uncertain.
In context
do not delay and loiter but do thou tossed to and fro turn and propitiate God
More examples
- The teenagers loitered outside the closed arcade.
- He spent the afternoon loitering near the station.
- Customers hurried past while she continued to loiter in the doorway.
Forms
loiter · loiters · loitered · loitering