falter

• faulter (archaic)

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): /ˈfɒl.tə(ɹ)/, /ˈfɔːl.tə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔl.tɚ/
• (cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈfɑl.tɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɒltə(ɹ), -ɔːltə(ɹ)

falter (plural falters)

1. An unsteadiness.
   • 2009, Ruth Cigman, Andrew Davis, New Philosophies of Learning, page 200:

     Tom, who isn't paying much attention, is suddenly caught by the falter in his voice as he reads the two lines—

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

1. To waver or be unsteady; to weaken or trail off.
   • 1672, Richard Wiseman, A Treatise of Wounds:

     He found his legs falter.

   • 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide‎, page 18:

     Considering the results of the study, today John may be buoyed at the clear trend of increasing numbers of new “lishes” for each successive decade since the 1950s, and the fact that nothing in the data suggests this trend is likely to falter.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To stammer; to utter with hesitation, or in a weak and trembling manner.
   • 1807, Lord Byron, Childish Recollections:

     And here he faltered forth his last farewell.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     With faltering speech and visage incomposed.

3. To fail in distinctness or regularity of exercise; said of the mind or of thought.
   • 1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC:

     Here indeed the power of distinctly conceiving of space and distance falters.

4. To stumble.
5. (figuratively) To lose faith or vigor; to doubt or abandon (a cause).
   • 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:

     And remember, comrades, your resolution must never falter.

   • 1971, Lyndon Johnson, “"I feel like I have already been here a year"”, in The Vantage Point‎, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 22:

     The most important foreign policy problem I faced was that of signaling to the world what kind of man I was and what sort of policies I intended to carry out. It was important that there be no hesitancy on my part — nothing to indicate that the U.S. government had faltered. It was equally important for the world to understand that I intended to continue the government's established foreign policies and maintain the alliances of Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy — policies of firmness on the one hand and an effort to thaw the Cold War on the other.

6. To hesitate in purpose or action.
   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

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

7. To cleanse or sift, as barley.
   • 1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], published 1708, →OCLC:

     Barley […] clean falter'd from Hairs