Crossword clues for falter
falter
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Falter \Fal"ter\, v. t. To utter with hesitation, or in a broken, trembling, or weak manner.
And here he faltered forth his last farewell.
--Byron.
Mde me most happy, faltering ``I am thine.''
--Tennyson.
Falter \Fal"ter\, n. [See Falter, v. i.] Hesitation; trembling; feebleness; an uncertain or broken sound; as, a slight falter in her voice.
The falter of an idle shepherd's pipe.
--Lowell.
Falter \Fal"ter\, v. t.
To thrash in the chaff; also, to cleanse or sift, as barley.
[Prov. Eng.]
--Halliwell.
Falter \Fal"ter\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Faltered; p. pr. & vb. n. Faltering.] [OE. falteren, faltren, prob. from fault. See Fault, v. & n.]
-
To hesitate; to speak brokenly or weakly; to stammer; as, his tongue falters.
With faltering speech and visage incomposed.
--Milton. To tremble; to totter; to be unsteady. ``He found his legs falter.''
--Wiseman.-
To hesitate in purpose or action.
Ere her native king Shall falter under foul rebellion's arms.
--Shak. -
To fail in distinctness or regularity of exercise; -- said of the mind or of thought.
Here indeed the power of disinct conception of space and distance falters.
--I. Taylor.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
late 14c., "to stagger, totter," of unknown origin, possibly from a Scandinavian source (compare Old Norse faltrask "be burdened, hesitate, be troubled"), or else a frequentative of Middle English falden "to fold," influenced by fault (but OED rejects any direct connection to that word). Of the tongue, "to stammer," mid-15c. Related: Faltered; faltering.
Wiktionary
n. unsteadiness. vb. 1 To waver or be unsteady. 2 (context ambitransitive English) To stammer; to utter with hesitation, or in a weak and trembling manner. 3 To fail in distinctness or regularity of exercise; said of the mind or of thought. 4 To stumble. 5 (context figuratively English) To lose faith or vigor; to doubt or abandon (a cause). 6 To hesitate in purpose or action. 7 To cleanse or sift, as barley.
WordNet
n. the act of pausing uncertainly; "there was a hesitation in his speech" [syn: hesitation, waver, faltering]
v. be unsure or weak; "Their enthusiasm is faltering" [syn: waver]
move hesitatingly, as if about to give way [syn: waver]
walk unsteadily; "The drunk man stumbled about" [syn: stumble, bumble]
speak haltingly; "The speaker faltered when he saw his opponent enter the room" [syn: bumble, stutter, stammer]
Wikipedia
Falter is a weekly news magazine published in Vienna, Austria.
Usage examples of "falter".
The Ansu charge faltered, and then the now-terrified horsemen turned their mounts and fled.
If the counterthrust should falter, both commands were immediately to swing back into the covering smoke and return up the waiting rampways.
The flames roared for a few seconds, then went out, and the dragline continued without faltering toward the brink.
What with the heavy beatings at any provocation or none, and the physical drills that go on till the weakest drop, and the starvation, and the long roll calls of nearly naked men, in subzero frost, and the hard work-digging drainage ditches, hauling lumber, dragging rocks, demolishing peasant houses in the evacuated villages, and carrying the materials, sometimes several kilometers, to the new blockhouse sites-and what with the guards shooting on the spot men who falter or fall, or finishing them off with the butt-ends of their rifles, the roster of Russians in the quarantine camp at Oswiecim is rapidly shrinking.
Instead the two Union flags faltered and fell as the overpowered Yankees began to retreat.
Meanwhile I noticed that Locksley, who was getting slightly tight, was cramming into the salted almonds for all he was worth, and if he faltered Gobbo plied him again and again and Locksley never said no.
Far happier than her Lady, as her Lady has often thought, why does she falter in this manner and look at her with such strange mistrust?
On the contrary, their intention to prosecute the war against Germany by every means in their power until Hitlerism is finally broken and the world relieved from the curse which a wicked man has brought upon it has been strengthened to such a point that they would rather all perish in the common ruin than fail or falter in their duty.
When he pours scorn on Tabizi and the Mwangaza for cutting their dirty deal with Kinshasa, it barely falters.
When the earth falters and the waters swoon With the implacable radiance of noon, And in dim shelters koils hush their notes, And the faint, thirsting blood in languid throats Craves liquid succour from the cruel heat, BUY FRUIT, BUY FRUIT, steals down the panting street.
The charge of the Nguni faltered and halted when they could not overtake the horses.
But when he was gone, I bit my lip and told Oban in faltering, half-formed sentences that in the last week or so I had been seeing Will Pavic.
They had made good time she was sure, even Salin keeping the pace Kadiya had set without faltering.
As his right wrist faltered in the viselike grasp, Shakes shot a hard blow with his left fist.
With grim pleasure I realized that Sheol was truly dying already, its nuclear fires simmering, faltering, making the entire star shudder as it wavered between stability and explosion.