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HALT

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halt¹

  • /hɒlt/ UK
  • /hɔːlt/ UK
  • /hɔlt/
  • /hɑlt/ US, cot caught merger, dialectal
  • /hɒlt/ Canada, dialectal
  • /hɔlt/ Australia

Rhymes with -ɒlt

Where it comes from

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.

verb halts · halting · halted

  1. intransitive, obsolete To limp; move with a limping gait. 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.
  2. intransitive, obsolete To stand in doubt whether to proceed, or what to do; hesitate; be uncertain; linger; delay; mammer. How long halt ye between two opinions?
  3. intransitive, obsolete To be lame, faulty, or defective, as in connection with ideas, or in measure, or in versification.
  4. obsolete To waver.
  5. obsolete To falter.

halt²

  • /hɒlt/ UK
  • /hɔːlt/ UK
  • /hɔlt/
  • /hɑlt/ US, cot caught merger, dialectal
  • /hɒlt/ Canada, dialectal
  • /hɔlt/ Australia

Rhymes with -ɒlt

Where it comes from

From Middle French halt, from early modern German halt (“stop!”), imperative of halten (“to hold, to stop”). Doublet of hold (see that entry for more information).

verb halts · halting · halted

  1. intransitive, obsolete To stop marching.
  2. intransitive, obsolete To stop either temporarily or permanently. 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.
  3. obsolete, transitive To bring to a stop.
  4. obsolete, transitive To cause to discontinue. The contract negotiations halted operations for at least a week.

Similar: brake, desist, stay, immobilize, terminate, shut down, stop

noun halts

  1. obsolete A cessation, either temporary or permanent. The contract negotiations put a halt to operations.
  2. obsolete A minor railway station (usually unstaffed) in the United Kingdom. The halt itself never achieved much importance, even with workers coming to and from the adjacent works.

Similar: moratorium, recess, endpoint, terminus

halt³

  • /hɒlt/ UK
  • /hɔːlt/ UK
  • /hɔlt/
  • /hɑlt/ US, cot caught merger, dialectal
  • /hɒlt/ Canada, dialectal
  • /hɔlt/ Australia

Rhymes with -ɒlt

Where it comes from

From Middle English halt, from Old English healt, from Proto-West Germanic *halt, from Proto-Germanic *haltaz (“halt, lame”), from Proto-Indo-European *kol-d-, from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to beat, strike, cut, slash”). Cognate with Danish halt, Swedish halt.

adjective more halt · most halt

  1. archaic, obsolete Lame, limping. It is better for the to goo halt into lyfe, then with ij. fete to be cast into hell […]

noun halts

  1. dated, obsolete Lameness; a limp.

halt⁴

  • /hɒlt/ UK
  • /hɔːlt/ UK
  • /hɔlt/
  • /hɑlt/ US, cot caught merger, dialectal
  • /hɒlt/ Canada, dialectal
  • /hɔlt/ Australia

Rhymes with -ɒlt

Where it comes from

Borrowed from French halte. See also Etymology 2.

noun halts

  1. Ireland, UK, obsolete A small railroad station, usually unstaffed or with very few staff, and with few or no facilities. Halts were normally unstaffed, tickets being sold on the train.

HALT⁵

noun

  1. abbreviation, acronym, uncountable Acronym of hungry, angry, lonely, (or) tired.hungry

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