intransitive verb
Definition 1
Figuratively, of State, system, etc. be shaken, be on the point of falling.
Source: Concise Oxford Dictionary
Context: It is supposedly the elderly gent in the golf club lounge who splutters into his gin and tonic whenever a British institution totters or topples: the empire ... the monarchy ... Margaret Thatcher ... the golf club.
Source: Financial Times 03/12/2004