Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To walk lamely or move in an irregular fashion.
  • intransitive verb To proceed or act with uncertainty or indecision; waver.
  • intransitive verb To be defective or proceed poorly, as in the development of an argument in logic or in the rhythmic structure of verse.
  • adjective Lame; crippled.
  • noun A suspension of movement or progress, especially a temporary one.
  • intransitive verb To cause to stop: synonym: stop.
  • intransitive verb To stop; pause.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Lame; not able to walk without limping.
  • noun The act of limping; lameness; a defect in gait.
  • noun A disease in sheep.
  • To limp; move with a limping gait.
  • To stand in doubt; hesitate; linger; delay.
  • To be lame, faulty, or defective, as in connection of ideas, or in measure or versification: as, a halting metaphor; a halting sonnet.
  • noun A stop; a suspension of progress in walking, riding, or going in any manner, and especially in marching.
  • To stop in walking or going; cease to advance; stop for a longer or shorter time on a march, as a body of troops.
  • To bring to a stand; cause to cease marching: as, the general halted his troops.
  • A Middle English contraction of haldeth, equivalent to holdeth, third person singular of the present indicative of hold.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • obsolete 3d pers. sing. pres. of hold, contraction for holdeth.
  • noun A stop in marching or walking, or in any action; arrest of progress.
  • transitive verb (Mil.) To cause to cease marching; to stop.
  • adjective Halting or stopping in walking; lame.
  • noun The act of limping; lameness.
  • intransitive verb To hold one's self from proceeding; to hold up; to cease progress; to stop for a longer or shorter period; to come to a stop; to stand still.
  • intransitive verb To stand in doubt whether to proceed, or what to do; to hesitate; to be uncertain.
  • intransitive verb To walk lamely; to limp.
  • intransitive verb To have an irregular rhythm; to be defective.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective archaic Lame, limping.
  • verb To limp.
  • verb To waver.
  • verb To falter.
  • noun dated Lameness; a limp.
  • verb intransitive To stop marching.
  • verb intransitive To stop either temporarily or permanently.
  • verb transitive To bring to a stop.
  • verb transitive To cause to discontinue.
  • noun A cessation, either temporary or permanent.
  • noun A minor railway station (usually unstaffed) in the United Kingdom.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb stop the flow of a liquid
  • verb come to a halt, stop moving
  • noun the state of inactivity following an interruption
  • verb stop from happening or developing
  • noun an interruption or temporary suspension of progress or movement
  • verb cause to stop
  • adjective disabled in the feet or legs
  • noun the event of something ending

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English halten, to limp, from Old English healtian.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[German, sing. imperative of halten, to stop, from Middle High German, from Old High German haltan.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old English healt (verb healtian), from Proto-Germanic *haltaz. Cognate with Danish halt, Swedish halt.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle High German halt (imperative of halten); Old High German haltan. English usage circa 1598 in one sense, the intransitive verb sense wasn't used until 1656.

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