potter

Everyday

1. A potter is a person who makes pots, bowls and other things from clay, often on a spinning wheel, and bakes them in a kiln. tree →
2. (UK) To potter (about or around) is to do small, pleasant, unhurried jobs or move about slowly and happily («potter in the garden»). tree →
3. (a name) Potter is a surname, as in Beatrix Potter, the author of Peter Rabbit, and the fictional Harry Potter. tree →

In the lessons

In art lessons, children try being potters with clay and learn that clay is soft but turns hard when fired. In history, potters made the pots archaeologists find today. In everyday British talk, grandparents «potter about» at the weekend. In the Bible, God is sometimes compared to a potter shaping clay.

Examples

• The potter shaped a bowl on the spinning wheel. tree →
• Potters fire their pots in a hot kiln. tree →
• Grandad likes to potter about in his shed. tree →
• We spent Sunday pottering around the house. tree →
• Beatrix Potter wrote «The Tale of Peter Rabbit». tree →
• Harry Potter is a boy wizard in a book. tree →
• The potter's wheel spins very fast. tree →
• So the potter gave him beautiful raiment and ornaments, and the prince went to the palace. tree →

Note

Countable: potters. Verb is regular: pottered. US English says «putter» for the relaxed sense. Capital P for the names; the word «potter» for clay workers is lower case.

In Jewish tradition

A potter shapes clay on a wheel. Jeremiah visits a potter's house, where God says He can reshape Israel as a potter reshapes clay.

Interpretation. Tradition reads the potter as God, who can remold a people if they change. The ruined and remade vessel teaches that repentance can renew a nation.

Examples

• 'O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. (Prophets JER.18.6, JPS 1917) tree →
• 'Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear My words.' (Prophets JER.18.2, JPS 1917) tree →
• Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he was at his work on the wheels. (Prophets JER.18.3, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Countable: potters. Verb is regular: pottered. US English says «putter» for the relaxed sense. Capital P for the names; the word «potter» for clay workers is lower case.