halt
/hɑlt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.93 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To stand in doubt whether to proceed, or what to do; hesitate; be uncertain; linger; delay; mammer.
Intransitive verb; Obsolete
verb
To be lame, faulty, or defective, as in connection with ideas, or in measure, or in versification.
Intransitive verb; Obsolete
Example Sentences
- "Here comes Sir Toby halting — you shall hear more; but if he had not been in drink, he would have tickled you othergates than he did."
- "Do not smile at me that I boast her of, For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise, And make it halt behind her."
- "How long halt ye between two opinions?"
- "And it was while all were passionately intent upon the pleasing and snake-like progress of their uncle that a young girl in furs, ascending the stairs two at a time, peeped perfunctorily into the nursery as she passed the hallway—and halted amazed."
- "The contract negotiations halted operations for at least a week."
- "The contract negotiations put a halt to operations."
Etymology
From Middle English halten, from Old English healtian (“to be lame, walk with a limp”), from Proto-West Germanic *haltōn, related to *halt. English usage in the sense of 'make a halt' is from the noun. Cognate with North Frisian halte, Swedish halta.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: halten, healtian, *haltōn, halt, healt, *halt
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /hɑlt/
- British English: /hɒlt/
Usage
Inflected Forms
halts (present, singular)
halting (participle, present)
halted (participle, past)
halted (past)
halts (plural)
more halt (comparative)
most halt (superlative)