halt

Verb

halt (third-person singular simple present halts, present participle halting, simple past and past participle halted)

1. (intransitive) To limp; move with a limping gait.
   • Shakespeare

     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.

   • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 4 scene 1

     Do not smile at me that I boast her off,

     For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise,

     And make it halt behind her.

2. (intransitive) To stand in doubt whether to proceed, or what to do; hesitate; be uncertain; linger; delay; mammer.
   • Bible, 1 Kings xviii. 21

     How long halt ye between two opinions?

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.

Verb

halt (third-person singular simple present halts, present participle halting, simple past and past participle halted)

1. (intransitive) To stop marching.
2. (intransitive) To stop either temporarily or permanently.
   • 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 24962326:

     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. (transitive) To bring to a stop.
4. (transitive) To cause to discontinue.

   The contract negotiations halted operations for at least a week.

Noun

halt (plural halts)

1. A cessation, either temporary or permanent.

   The contract negotiations put a halt to operations.

   • Clarendon

     Without any halt they marched.

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.

Adjective

halt (comparative more halt, superlative most halt)

1. (archaic) Lame, limping.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Mark IX:

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

   • Bible, Luke xiv. 21

     Bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

Noun

halt (plural halts)

1. (dated) Lameness; a limp.

Verb

halt

1. Imperative singular of halten.

Interjection

halt!

1. stop!, wait!

Adverb

halt

1. (colloquial, modal particle) so, just, simply, indicating that something is generally known, or cannot be changed, or the like; often untranslatable

   Er ist halt ein Idiot...

   So he’s an idiot...

   Dann müssen wir halt härter arbeiten.

   Then we’ll just have to work harder.

Usage notes

• The word is originally southern German and is still so considered by some contemporary dictionaries. It has, however, become common throughout the language area during the past decades.

See also

• eben
• ja

Derived terms

• haltement