Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Pother

Pother , noun

[Compare Dutch peuteren to rummage, poke. Compare Potter, Pudder.]

Bustle; confusion; tumult; flutter; bother.
What a pother and stir! — Oldham
Coming on with a terrible pother. — Wordsworth

Pother , intransitive verb

To make a bustle or stir; to be fussy.

Pother , transitive verb

To harass and perplex; to worry.
Pothers and wearies himself. — Locke