halt

Etymology 1

From Middle English halten, from Old English healtian (“to be lame, walk with a limp”), from Proto-Germanic *haltōną. English usage in the sense of 'make a halt' is from the noun. Cognate with North Frisian halte, Swedish halta.

verb

1. (intransitive) To limp; move with a limping gait.
2. (intransitive) To stand in doubt whether to proceed, or what to do; hesitate; be uncertain; linger; delay; mammer.
3. (intransitive) To be lame, faulty, or defective, as in connection with ideas, or in measure, or in versification.
4. To waver.
5. To falter.

Etymology 2

From Middle French halt, from early modern German halt (“stop!”), imperative of halten (“to hold, to stop”). More at hold.

verb

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

noun

1. A cessation, either temporary or permanent.
   The contract negotiations put a halt to operations.
   Because most diesel failures can be traced to electrical faults, minor in themselves but often difficult to pin-point, any unscheduled halt during a trial run is often the signal for the frenzied unfolding of wiring diagrams and the appearance of an impressive array of voltmeters and circuit testers. 1962 April, R. K. Evans, “The Acceptance Testing of Diesel Locomotives”, in Modern Railways, page 268
2. (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.
   On once more we swung, bumping uneasily along in the antique narrow-gauge coach, with gloomy woods and gathering night outside, shouts and songs (and quacks) inside—this was not at all the sort of train ordained by the logical strategists in Paris—then grinding to a stop at a mysterious halt which was no more than a nameboard in the pinewoods, without even a footpath leading to it, but nevertheless with a solitary passenger stolidly waiting. 1961 November, H. G. Ellison, P. G. Barlow, “Journey through France: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 668

Etymology 3

From Middle English halt, from Old English healt, 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.

adj

1. (archaic) Lame, limping.

noun

1. (dated) Lameness; a limp.