Fal"ter (?), v. t.
To thrash in the chaff; also, to cleanse or sift, as barley.
[Prov. Eng.]
Halliwell.
© Webster 1913.
Fal"ter, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Faltered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Faltering.] [OE. falteren, faltren, prob. from fault. See Fault, v. & n.]
1.
To hesitate; to speak brokenly or weakly; to stammer; as, his tongue falters.
With faltering speech and visage incomposed.
Milton.
2.
To tremble; to totter; to be unsteady.
"He found his legs
falter."
Wiseman.
3.
To hesitate in purpose or action.
Ere her native king
Shall falter under foul rebellion's arms.
Shak.
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.
© Webster 1913.
Fal"ter, v. t.
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.
© Webster 1913.
Fal"ter (?), n. [See Falter, v. i.]
Hesitation; trembling; feebleness; an uncertain or broken sound; as, a slight falter in her voice.
The falter of an idle shepherd's pipe.
Lowell.
© Webster 1913.