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Entry 7 senses · 4 variants Webster, 1913

Falter

/fôl'-tẽr/ · Fal·ter · IPA /ˈfɔltəɹ/
01 v. t. To thrash in the chaff; also, to cleanse or sift, as barley.
  1. 1.
    To thrash in the chaff; also, to cleanse or sift, as barley.[Prov. Eng.]
02 v. i. To hesitate; to speak brokenly or weakly; to stammer; as, his tongue falters.
imp. & p. p. Faltered; p. pr. & vb. n. Faltering
  1. 1.
    To hesitate; to speak brokenly or weakly; to stammer; as, his tongue falters.
    “With faltering speech and visage incomposed.” — Milton.
  2. 2.
    To tremble; to totter; to be unsteady.
  3. 3.
    To hesitate in purpose or action.
    “Ere her native king Shall falter under foul rebellion's arms.” — Shak.
  4. 4.
    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.
03 v. t. To utter with hesitation, or in a broken, trembling, or weak manner.
  1. 1.
    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.
04 n. Hesitation; trembling; feebleness; an uncertain or broken sound; as, a slight falter in her voice.
  1. 1.
    Hesitation; trembling; feebleness; an uncertain or broken sound; as, a slight falter in her voice.
    “The falter of an idle shepherd's pipe.” — Lowell.