halt
UK /hɒlt/ · US /hɑlt/ verb, noun, adjective
Forms halts halting halted
- verb (intransitive) To limp; move with a limping gait.
- verb (intransitive) To stand in doubt whether to proceed, or what to do; hesitate; be uncertain; linger; delay; mammer.
- verb (intransitive) To be lame, faulty, or defective, as in connection with ideas, or in measure, or in versification.
- verb To waver.
- verb To falter.
- verb (intransitive) To stop marching.
- verb (intransitive) To stop either temporarily or permanently.
- verb (transitive) To bring to a stop.
- verb (transitive) To cause to discontinue. “The contract negotiations halted operations for at least a week.”
- noun A cessation, either temporary or permanent. “The contract negotiations put a halt to operations.”
- noun (rail transport) 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.”
- adjective (archaic) Lame, limping.
- noun (dated) Lameness; a limp.
- noun (UK, Ireland) A small railroad station, usually unstaffed or with very few staff, and with few or no facilities.
Synonyms
pause freeze break off brake desist stay immobilize terminate shut down stop hiatus close moratorium recess endpoint terminus arrest check hitch stoppage hold block kibosh stem stanch staunch crippled halting lame gimpy
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.
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).
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.
Borrowed from French halte. See also Etymology 2.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A stop in marching or walking, or in any action; arrest of progress.
- verb To hold one's self from proceeding; to hold up; to cease progress; to stop for a longer or shorter period; to come to a stop; to stand still.
- verb To stand in doubt whether to proceed, or what to do; to h How long halt ye between two opinions 1 Kings xviii. 21
- verb To cause to cease marching; to stop; as, the general halted his troops for refreshment.
Etymology [Formerly alt, It. alto, G. halt, fr. halten to hold. See Hold.]
Etymology [AS. healt; akin to OS., Dan., & Sw. halt, Icel. haltr, halltr, Goth. halts, OHG. halz.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “halt”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details