tottered

Verb

totter (third-person singular simple present totters, present participle tottering, simple past and past participle tottered)

1. (intransitive) To walk, move or stand unsteadily or falteringly; threatening to fall.
   • The baby tottered from the table to the chair.

   Synonyms:

   reel, teeter, toddle, stagger, sway

2. (figuratively, intransitive) To be on the brink of collapse.
   • […]the folly of this Iland, they ſay there's but fiue vpon this Iſle ; we are three of them, if th' other two be brain'd like vs, the State totters.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...

   Synonyms:

   topple

3. (archaic, intransitive) To collect junk or scrap.

See all 6 meanings of totter