Falter
Falter , transitive verb
To thrash in the chaff; also, to cleanse or sift, as barley. [Provincial English] — Halliwell
Falter , intransitive verb
[Old English falteren, faltren, prob. from fault. See Fault, v. & n.]
1.
To hesitate; to speak brokenly or weakly; to stammer; as, his tongue falters.
With faltering speech and visage incomposed.
2.
To tremble; to totter; to be unsteady.
He found his legs falter.
3.
To hesitate in purpose or action.
Ere her native king
Shall falter under foul rebellion's arms.
4.
To fail in distinctness or regularity of exercise; -- said of the mind or of thought.
Here indeed the power of disinct conception of space and distance falters.
Falter , transitive verb
To utter with hesitation, or in a broken, trembling, or weak manner.
And here he faltered forth his last farewell.
Mde me most happy, faltering “I am thine.”
Falter , noun
[See Falter, v. i.]
Hesitation; trembling; feebleness; an uncertain or broken sound; as, a slight falter in her voice.
The falter of an idle shepherd's pipe.