peter

English Online Dictionary. What means peter‎? What does peter mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpiːtə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpitɚ/
• Rhymes: -iːtə(ɹ)
• Homophones: Peter; pita (non-rhotic)
• Hyphenation: pe‧ter

Etymology 1

US, 1902, presumably from shared initial pe-. Compare the use of other men’s names as slang terms for the penis, e.g., dick, willy, johnson, John Thomas, etc.

Noun

peter (plural peters)

1. (slang) The penis.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Unknown. Attested from the 18th century. The Canting Academy defines peeter as “A portmantle”; Green’s Dictionary of Slang list a variety of uses for peter – including trunk or portmanteau – in thieves’ cant in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

peter (plural peters)

1. (UK, slang) A safe. [from 18th c.]

   Synonym: pete
2. (UK, prison slang) A prison cell. [from 20th c.]

Derived terms

• peterman

Etymology 3

Unknown; the following etymologies have been suggested:

• From peter (“to stop (doing or saying something)”) (slang, obsolete, rare).
• Since the word was first used in mining contexts, either:
  • from French péter (“to explode; to break wind, fart”) (slang), from pet (“emission of digestive gases from the anus, flatus, fart”) (slang), from Latin pēditum (“flatus, fart”), from pēdō (“to break wind, fart”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pesd- (“to break wind softly”), probably imitative; or
  • from (salt)peter, a variant of saltpetre (“potassium nitrate”) (the key ingredient in gunpowder), from Middle English salpeter, salpetre [and other forms] with the first element influenced by salt, from Old French salpetre (modern French salpêtre), from Medieval Latin salpetra, from Latin sāl petrae (literally “salt of stone”) (as potassium nitrate occurs encrusted on some stones), from sāl (“salt”) + petrae (the nominative or vocative plural of petra (“rock; stone”), from Ancient Greek πέτρᾱ (pétrā, “rock formation; stone”)).

Verb

peter (third-person singular simple present peters, present participle petering, simple past and past participle petered)

1. (intransitive, originally US) Chiefly followed by out: originally (mining), of a vein of ore: to be depleted of ore; now (generally), to diminish to nothing; to dwindle, to trail off.
   • 1910 T. Lane Carter: Mining in Nicaragua. Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. Vol. XLI. 1910. Canal Zone Meeting, October, 1910

     I found a veinlet about 15 in. wide and very rich in gold. Trenching along its outcrop showed that it extended about 100 ft. and then pinched out altogether. A winze sunk on the veinlet showed that it "petered out" entirely at 25 or 30 ft.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:peter.

Usage notes

Originally used independently, but today most often in the derived phrase peter out.

Derived terms

• peter out

Translations

Etymology 4

Clipping of blue peter (“play a high card to call for trump”). See further etymology there.

Verb

peter (third-person singular simple present peters, present participle petering, simple past and past participle petered)

1. (card games, intransitive) Synonym of blue peter; to call for trump by throwing away a high card while holding a lower one. [from 19th century]

References

Anagrams

• Peret, Petre, Prete, peert, petre, repet.

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch peter, from petrijn, from Latin patrīnus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpeː.tər/
• Hyphenation: pe‧ter
• Rhymes: -eːtər

Noun

peter m (plural peters, feminine meter)

1. a godfather

   Synonym: peetoom

Descendants

• Negerhollands: pepee

Middle English

Adjective

peter

1. misspelling of petit (“small”).