adjective
- infirm; feeble.
- (of a tree) having lost most of its branches owing to decay or age.
verb (used without object)
- to shake; tremble; totter.
verb (intr)
- to move unsteadily; totter
- to shake or tremble, as from age
noun
- any rootless parasitic plant of the convolvulaceous genus Cuscuta, lacking chlorophyll and having slender twining stems with suckers for drawing nourishment from the host plant, scalelike leaves, and whitish flowers
1610s, perhaps from Middle English daderen “to quake, tremble” (late 15c.), apparently frequentative of dialectal dade, on a form similar to totter, patter. Related: Doddered; doddering.