halt
Pluralhalts
Pluralhalts
- 1A stopping or pause in something, whether for a time or for good.
The negotiations came to an abrupt halt that winter.
Without any halt they marched.
Can we date this quote?, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in EnglandUsageCommon frames: come to a halt, bring something to a halt, put a halt to or call a halt to something.
Note
Clarendon writes of troops who marched "without any halt." R. K. Evans, writing in 1962 on testing diesel locomotives, speaks of an "unscheduled halt" during a trial run, meaning a breakdown rather than a rest.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Clarendon wrote “without any halt” about marching troops. en.wiktionary.org
- R. K. Evans used “unscheduled halt” about a trial run in a 1962 article on testing diesel locomotives; the context concerns a mechanical failure rather than a rest. en.wiktionary.org
- 2To stop, or to make a person, vehicle, or process stop, either briefly or permanently.
The sentries halted every traveler who approached after dark.
A single command could halt the entire column.
- 3A minor railroad stop with few facilities or none, typically having little or no staff.
The coastal line had several halts where no ticket office stood.
Halts were normally unstaffed, tickets being sold on the train.
2024, Wikipedia contributors, “Train station”Note
A British and Irish railway word, borrowed from French and spread by the Great Western Railway, which opened its first halts in 1903. Because a halt usually had no staff, passengers bought their tickets on the train instead.
Less common meanings
- 4To falter, waver, or hesitate; to be unsteady or uncertain in action, speech, or purpose.
How long halt ye between two opinions?
1611, The Holy Bible, King James VersionNote
Indecision pictured as a limp: the mind moves unevenly, unable to settle its weight on either side. The King James Bible of 1611 gives the classic construction, halt between two opinions: "How long halt ye between two opinions?" The sense grew from the limping verb, not from the familiar sense of stopping, so the picture is of wavering rather than standing still.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- The King James Bible was first published in 1611, the date printed on its first-edition title page. en.wikisource.org
- The quotation occurs in the King James Bible, spoken by Elijah in 1 Kings 18:21. en.wikisource.org
- The wavering sense belongs to the verb derived from Old English healtian, meaning to limp, rather than the stopping verb. en.wiktionary.org
- 5To be faulty or defective, as an argument, a line of meter, or a piece of verse may be.
Note
Applied to verse and reasoning, the limp becomes a fault of rhythm or logic. A line halts when its meter stumbles, and an argument halts when one step fails to follow from the last. The image is borrowed straight from the limping verb, which is why a critic could say a poem halts without meaning that it stops.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- The figurative sense concerning defective reasoning or verse belongs to the limping verb. en.wiktionary.org
- 6To walk with a limp or an uneven, faltering step.
Do not smile at me that I boast her of, For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise, And make it halt behind her.
1610, William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”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.
c. 1601, William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”Note
Shakespeare uses it plainly in Twelfth Night ("Here comes Sir Toby halting") and figuratively in The Tempest, where praise is made to "halt behind her," limping after a woman it cannot keep pace with.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Shakespeare uses the literal limping sense in Twelfth Night; Sir Andrew speaks the quoted words. shakespeare.mit.edu
- In Shakespeare's The Tempest, Prospero figuratively describes praise as limping behind Miranda, whom it cannot match. shakespeare.mit.edu
- 7Lame or limping; unable to walk normally.
Bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
1611, The Holy Bible, King James VersionNote
Tyndale's New Testament of 1526 has "goo halt into lyfe." The King James Bible of 1611 uses it as a collective noun with the: "the maimed, and the halt, and the blind."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Tyndale's New Testament was first published in 1526. library.chethams.com
- Tyndale's 1526 New Testament contains the quoted wording. en.wiktionary.org
- The King James Bible was first published in 1611. loc.gov
- Luke 14:21 uses the halt collectively and contains the quoted wording. en.wikisource.org
- 8Lameness, or a limp in the way one walks.
Note
The noun of lameness grew from the same root as the adjective, and it is easily mistaken for the stopping noun: a halt in his step means a limp, not a pause. Context usually decides. A halt in someone's gait or walk is lameness, while a halt in trade or work is a stopping.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- The noun meaning lameness shares the adjective's etymological root. en.wiktionary.org
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
Old English had healtian, which meant "to be lame, walk with a limp." It came from *haltōn in Proto-West Germanic and became Middle English halten. Using the verb to mean "make a halt" comes from the noun. North Frisian halte and Swedish halta are related.
From Middle French halt, from early modern German halt ('stop!'), the command form of halten ('to hold, to stop'). It is a doublet of hold.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- English halt comes from Middle French halt. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle French halt comes from early modern German halt, meaning 'stop!'. en.wiktionary.org
- German halt is the command form of halten, meaning 'to hold, to stop'. en.wiktionary.org
- Halt is a doublet of hold. en.wiktionary.org
Old English healt became Middle English halt. Behind it lie Proto-West Germanic *halt and Proto-Germanic *haltaz ("halt, lame"), which go back to *kel- ("to beat, strike, cut") in Proto-Indo-European. Danish and Swedish halt are cognates.
Borrowed from French halte.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- English halt, in the railway-station sense, was borrowed from French halte. en.wiktionary.org