Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To talk incoherently or aimlessly.
  • intransitive verb To move or act aimlessly or vaguely; wander.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To beg.
  • To speak with a beggar's whine; grumble.
  • To mutter; talk incoherently or idly; wander in talking like a drunken or foolish person; drivel.
  • noun A beggar.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A beggar.
  • transitive verb To utter in a grumbling manner; to mutter.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To speak in a disorganized or desultory manner; to babble or prattle.
  • verb To wander or walk aimlessly.
  • noun obsolete A beggar.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb wander aimlessly
  • verb speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly
  • verb talk indistinctly; usually in a low voice

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably dialectal variant of meander (probably influenced by wander).]

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Examples

  • I looked up "maunder" and I think it would make an excellent stage name: -) 9: 28 PM skookumchick said ...

    Added to the Blogroll Peggy 2008

  • 'maunder' on with objections long since disposed of.

    Note Book of an English Opium-Eater Thomas De Quincey 1822

  • And while you maunder about restoring competition, the trusts go on destroying you.

    Chapter 8: The Machine Breakers 2010

  • Tromp would maunder over and over of how Johannes Maartens and the cunies robbed the kings on Tabong Mountain, each embalmed in his golden coffin with an embalmed maid on either side; and of how these ancient proud ones crumbled to dust within the hour while the cunies cursed and sweated at junking the coffins.

    Chapter 15 2010

  • He had seen convicts, after the guards had manhandled them, crippled in body for life, or left to maunder in mind to the end of their days.

    THE HOBO AND THE FAIRY 2010

  • His columns frequently wander and maunder, heading this way and that, but never actually arriving anywhere.

    The Panda's Thumb: Jeffrey Shallit Archives 2010

  • At any rate, I found it resonated a lot for me, especially regarding the struggles for balance that I go through with my writing life and how it fits into the rest of my life (something I maunder about here on occasion), and what writing and publishing (not the same thing) does or serves for me, and as ever with Matt it's well written and thus worth a look.

    Breakfast in Bed desayunoencama 2008

  • Get on board or maunder out to the retirement home, Fred!

    25 Random Tips for the Busy Facebook User - The Lede Blog - NYTimes.com 2009

  • Chiang Stumps Even Her Teacher, the reporter for The Christian Science Monitor listed indehiscence (a botanical term for the state of being closed at maturity), maunder (to move slowly and uncertainly), and cenote (a sinkhole) among a list of eight difficult words she had used, saying that even Wellesley professors had to consult their dictionaries.

    The Last Empress Hannah Pakula 2009

  • And thanks to the rest of you, too, both those who pitched in to help make it a real book, and those who have listened to me maunder about it since early 2003.

    fans jumped up and the Finn jumped too truepenny 2007

Comments

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  • I had a lot of time to maunder on and on through similar dead-end thought patterns, since Bill was having a rip-roaring good time at the party. -Charlaine Harris, Living Dead in Dallas

    December 11, 2010

  • "maundering over failed affairs of heart or wallet"

    Source: The times Literary supplement

    January 22, 2018