totter, n.

[Mark A Mandel]

What is "totter", a noun referring to a person? It is not in MW 3rd
Intl, OED New Edn., or AHD4. Here is a passage from Lindsey Davis's new
Falco novel, _A Body in the Bathhouse_, (c) 2001, Mysterious Press, pp.
6-7. The protagonist and narrator, a P.I. (private informer) in Rome ca.
75 C.E., is telling the reader about his new daughter:

Born skinny and silent, she had [p.7] looked halfway to Hades. The
minute I named her, she rallied. From then on, she was as tough as a
totter's ferret.

-- Mark A. Mandel