falter

Etymology

From Middle English falteren (“to stagger”), further origin unknown. Possibly from a North Germanic source such as Old Norse faltrask (“be encumbered”). May also be a frequentative of fold, although the change from d to t is unusual.

noun

1. An unsteadiness.
   Tom, who isn't paying much attention, is suddenly caught by the falter in his voice as he reads the two lines 2009, Ruth Cigman, Andrew Davis, New Philosophies of Learning, page 200

verb

1. To waver or be unsteady; to weaken or trail off.
   He found his legs falter. 1672, Richard Wiseman, A Treatise of Wounds
   Considering the results of the study, today John may be buoyed at the clear trend of increasing numbers of new “lishes” for each successive decade since the 1950s, and the fact that nothing in the data suggests this trend is likely to falter. 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 18
2. (transitive, intransitive) To stammer; to utter with hesitation, or in a weak and trembling manner.
   And here he faltered forth his last farewell. 1807, Lord Byron, Childish Recollections
3. To fail in distinctness or regularity of exercise; said of the mind or of thought.
4. To stumble.
5. (figurative) To lose faith or vigor; to doubt or abandon (a cause).
   The most important foreign policy problem I faced was that of signaling to the world what kind of man I was and what sort of policies I intended to carry out. It was important that there be no hesitancy on my part — nothing to indicate that the U.S. government had faltered. It was equally important for the world to understand that I intended to continue the government's established foreign policies and maintain the alliances of Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy — policies of firmness on the one hand and an effort to thaw the Cold War on the other. 1971, Lyndon Johnson, “"I feel like I have already been here a year"”, in The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 22
6. To hesitate in purpose or action.
7. To cleanse or sift, as barley.