palter
/ˈpɔl.tɚ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.41 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To talk insincerely; to prevaricate or equivocate in speech or actions.
verb
To talk insincerely; to prevaricate or equivocate in speech or actions.
verb
To haggle.
Example Sentences
- "Romans, that have spoke the word, And will not palter."
- "Who never sold the truth to serve the hour, Nor paltered with eternal God for power."
- ""The hat," he said, "might have been managed, and the trousers could have been lent, but the coat, Mr Bunion, was beyond our means." Which piece of information being delivered in a very grave voice, and a confidential manner, the curate had, perforce, to accept; but inwardly he had a profound suspicion that the tall man was paltering with the truth."
- "But, with a gesture, she put a period to this dalliance—one shouldn't palter so on an empty stomach, she might almost have said."
- "I would prevaricate and palter in my usual plausible way, but, this being Cambridge, such stratagems would cut no ice with my remorseless and (in my imagination) gleefully malicious interrogator, who would stare at me with gimlet eyes and say in a harsh voice that crackled with mocking laughter: ‘Excuse me, but do you even know who Lermontov is?’"
- "Palter out your time in the penal statutes."
Etymology
Probably from Middle English *palter (“rag, trifle, worthless thing”), from Middle Low German palter (“rag, cloth”). More at paltry.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *palter, palter
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpɔl.tɚ/
- British English: /ˈpɒltə/