dither

Related to dither: dither matrix

all of a dither

In a nervous, confused, or agitated state. We were all of a dither waiting to meet the president at our school rally. The interviewer kept asking these really vague questions and got me all of a dither.
See also: all, dither, of

in a dither

In a nervous, confused, or agitated state. We were in a dither waiting to meet the president at our school rally. News that the country's largest corporation has filed for bankruptcy has left the market in a dither. The interviewer kept asking these really vague questions and got me in a dither.
See also: dither
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

in a dither

confused; nervous; bothered. Mary is sort of in a dither lately. Don't get yourself in a dither.
See also: dither
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

in a dither

Also, all of a dither; in a flutter or tizzy . In a state of tremulous agitation, as in Planning the wedding put her in a dither, or He tried to pull himself together, but he was all of a dither, or She showed up in such a flutter that our meeting was useless. The noun dither dates from the early 1800s and goes back to the Middle English verb didderen, "to tremble"; in a flutter dates from the mid-1700s; in a tizzy dates from about 1930 and is of uncertain origin.
See also: dither
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

dither

(ˈdɪðɚ)
n. a state of confusion. (see also in a dither.) He can’t seem to get out of this dither he’s in.

in a dither

mod. confused; undecided. Don’t get yourself in a dither.
See also: dither
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

in a dither, all

In a jittery, agitated state. This expression dates from the early 1800s, when it also was put as of a dither. The noun dither comes from the Middle English verb didderen, meaning “to tremble.” A newer synonym is in a tizzy, dating from the first half of the 1900s. Its origin is not known.
See also: all
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • all of a dither
  • in a dither
  • in a dither, all
  • in a flutter
  • tizzle
  • tizzle a wild card word for words beginning with
  • be in a tizzle
  • tizzy
  • be in a tizz(y)
  • tizz
References in periodicals archive
Dither signals are classified into two categories; the dither in low and high frequency PWM.
A new method for maintaining constant dither amplitude in low frequency PWM
in (Mariano & Ramos, 2006) the first and the second moment of quatization error were analyzed for sinusoidal input signal without dither. As we prefer evaluation of moments from characteristic function (CF) it is now favorable to write conditional CF of error e resulting from area sampling process
Analysis of dithered measurement based on Widrow's quantization theory
Strange as it may seem, the concept of dither isn't new.
"New normal" landings: regardless of our performance during the rest of the flight, it's often the landing by which others measure our piloting skills
Reports of delay and dither over Brexit will add to uncertainty in the markets, on jobs, housing and investment.
We can't afford Brexit dithering; RECORD View
There are several types of dither (Carbone & Petri, 1994) and usually uniform noise leads to best results, if peak-to-peak value [D.sub.d] of noise equal to one quantization step q could be provided, [D.sub.d] = q.
Correction of ADC errors by iterative method with dithering using dither with uniform distribution
Can the city council get its act together if only for once, and give this proposition 110% backing and not dither as usual and lose to to somewhere else?
Short points: Garden Festival
So if Ford are still dithering about whether we should have a right-hooker here in the UK, I say dither no more.
Quentin Willson: MUSTANG GALLOPS AHEAD
DAYS after David Cameron promised to "cut through the dither" to kick-start the economy, the Government yesterday delayed any prospect of extending Britain's creaking airport capacity by three years.
CAM RUNS AWAY FROM RUNWAY DECISION WITH HEATHROW DELAY
This led to Ward accusing the coalition of being in a dither about dithering.
Perspective: IRON ANGLE: On your marks for the great library sprint; LOCAL GOVERNMENT WITH A SLANT
Tories said the fact that it had taken so long showed that "all Tony Blair could do was dither" in the face of mounting criticism of Mr Robinson, and warned it was not the end of the matter.
Belated and grudging finale
The longer health chiefs dither, the more women will die.
IRISH DAILY Mirror COMMENT: Delay will cost too many lives
As the cost rises, Mark Drakeford, Welsh Assembly leader, dithers, making sure his party doesn't lose out and he doesn't upset anyone prior to the forthcoming elections.
Stop dithering over the M4 relief road
Summary: Islamabad: Even as the Pakistan government dithers on granting MFN-status to India, 63 per cent ...
Majority of Pakistanis favour trade ties with India
Our own chief criticism of Obama's leadership style thus far is not that he dithers but that he seems so devoted to compromise and seeking common ground that he often refuses take a firm stand and fight for his position.
Does Obama dither?
The Queen is also concerned that Kate, 26, cannot settle into a career while William dithers.
DON'T DITHER, WILLS; EXCLUSIVE Philip says: Make your mind up on Kate AGAIN