Doddering means shaky and feeble from old age. A doddering old man, doddering about, doddering and vague.
It is unkind and it is aimed at old men in particular, which is worth knowing before using it. The word comes from dodder, to tremble or totter, and the plant called dodder is unrelated. Frail is the word to use when you mean it without contempt.
1adjectivedodderingShaky and feeble from old age.
“The doddering old man shuffled across the road with his stick.”
doddering is a quality of frailty.
Middle English
daderen — to quake, tremble
English
dodder
English, today
doddering
dodder Early 17th century, variant of dialectal dadder, from Middle English daderen (“to quake, tremble”), ultimately from the root of dither. Compare Norwegian dudra (“to tremble”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire