falter

From Middle English falteren (“to stagger”), further origin unknown. Possibly from a North Germanic source[1] such as Old Norse faltrask (“be encumbered”). May also be a frequentative of fold, although the change from d to t is unusual.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfɒltə/

falter

1. unsteadiness.

falter (third-person singular simple present falters, present participle faltering, simple past and past participle faltered)

1. To waver or be unsteady.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Wiseman

     He found his legs falter.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To stammer; to utter with hesitation, or in a weak and trembling manner.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Byron

     And here he faltered forth his last farewell.

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     With faltering speech and visage incomposed.

3. To fail in distinctness or regularity of exercise; said of the mind or of thought.
   • (Can we date this quote?) I. Taylor

     Here indeed the power of distinct conception of space and distance falters.

4. To stumble.
5. (figuratively) To lose faith or vigor; to doubt or abandon (a cause).
   • 1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 1, in Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473:

     And remember, comrades, your resolution must never falter.

6. To hesitate in purpose or action.
   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     Ere her native king / Shall falter under foul rebellion's arms.

7. To cleanse or sift, as barley.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)