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Pother

Metanoy

Senior Member
Russian
Good day!

There is the word "pother" that means a stirr, a commotion. Is it countable or uncountable? I can't see it in the dictionary.

For example:

This war is nothing but bloody and inane pother.
Last edited:
I'd never come across the word before, but in the WR Dictionary it appears to be both countable and uncountable.

But honestly, it's not a word you'll ever need to use. Or if you do, be prepared for your reader or listener to wonder what you mean.
I've heard it and knew what it means. However I can't imagine it being used in the plural. I agree that you are unlikely ever to see or hear this word again.
I've never looked it up in the dictionary, but I always assumed it was a variant of "bother", as in "fuss and bother".

The ladies were all in a pother over nothing.
The word, as a verb, was relatively common in the East Midlands. To pother/puther = to emit clouds of dust/fumes/smoke, etc.
It's in Shakespeare: Coriolanus, II,1, where it clearly means an enormous excited gathering, to greet Coriolanus after his victory over the Volscians.

.....veil'd dames
Commit the war of white and damask in
Their nicely-gawded cheeks to the wanton spoil
Of Phoebus' burning kisses: such a pother
As if that whatsoever god who leads him
Were slily crept into his human powers
And gave him graceful posture.

The etymological dictionary gives the noun - 1590s, "disturbance, commotion," of unknown origin. Meaning "mental trouble" is from 1640s; verb sense of "to fluster" is attested from 1690s.

It's not the same word as bother, though the similarity may lead to confusion in many speakers.
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