# halt

Pronunciation: US say "HAWLT" /hɔlt/; UK say "HOLT" /hɒlt/

## Noun

1. A stopping or pause in something, whether for a time or for good.
   - Simple: A stop in something, for a short time or forever.
   - _The negotiations came to an abrupt halt that winter._
   - _A sudden halt in trade left the merchants ruined._
3. A minor railroad stop with few facilities or none, typically having little or no staff. *(UK, Ireland)*
   - Simple: A small train station with few or no staff and little else.
   - _The coastal line had several halts where no ticket office stood._
   - _Commuters waited in the rain at the bare halt, which had no shelter._

## Verb

2. To stop, or to make a person, vehicle, or process stop, either briefly or permanently.
   - Simple: To stop, or to make someone or something stop.
   - _The sentries halted every traveler who approached after dark._
   - _A single command could halt the entire column._

## Verb

4. To falter, waver, or hesitate; to be unsteady or uncertain in action, speech, or purpose. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To hesitate or be unsure, so that you act or speak in a weak, uneven way.
5. To be faulty or defective, as an argument, a line of meter, or a piece of verse may be. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To be weak or faulty, as a poem or an idea can be.
6. To walk with a limp or an uneven, faltering step. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To walk unevenly because of a hurt or weak leg.

## Adjective

7. Lame or limping; unable to walk normally. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Lame, or not able to walk without limping.

## Noun

8. Lameness, or a limp in the way one walks. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A limp, or trouble walking because of a bad leg.

## Origin

**Meanings 4–6** — 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.
**Meanings 1–2** — 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.
**Meanings 7–8** — 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.
**Meaning 3** — Borrowed from French halte.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/halt (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).