What does "potter" mean?

Potter: The potter heard, and stopped his wheel. Longfellow.

Additional senses

  1. 2.One who hawks crockery or earthenware. [Prov. Eng.] De Quincey.
  2. 3.One who pots meats or other eatables.
  3. 4.(Zoöl.) The red-bellied terrapin. See Terrapin. Potter's asthma (Med.), emphysema of the lungs; -- so called because very prevalent among potters. Parkers. -- Potter's clay. See under Clay. -- Potter's field, a public burial place, especially in a city, for paupers, unknown persons, and criminals; -- so named from the field south of Jerusalem, mentioned in Matt. xxvii.
  4. 5.-- Potter's ore. See Alquifou. -- Potter's wheel, a horizontal revolving disk on which the clay is molded into form with the hands or tools. "My thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel." Shak. Potter wasp (Zoöl.), a small solitary wasp (Eumenes fraternal) which constructs a globular nest of mud and sand in which it deposits insect larvæ, such as cankerworms, as food for its young.
  5. 6.To busy one's self with trifles; to labor with little purpose, energy, of effect; to trifle; to pother. Pottering about the Mile End cottages. Mrs. Humphry Ward.
  6. 7.To walk lazily or idly; to saunter.
  7. 8.To poke; to push; also, to disturb; to confuse; to bother. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

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