halt
pronunciation
How to pronounce halt in British English:
UK [hɔːlt]
How to pronounce halt in American English:
US [hɔːlt]
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- Noun:
- the state of inactivity following an interruption
- the event of something ending
- an interruption or temporary suspension of progress or movement
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- Verb:
- cause to stop
- come to a halt, stop moving
- stop from happening or developing
- stop the flow of a liquid
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- Adjective:
- disabled in the feet or legs
Word Origin
- halt
- halt: English has two words halt. By far the older, meaning ‘lame’ [OE], has virtually died out as a living part of English vocabulary except in the verbal derivative halting ‘stopping and starting uncertainly’. It came from a prehistoric Germanic *khaltaz, which also produced Swedish and Danish halt ‘Jame’. Halt ‘stop’ [17], originally a noun, comes from German halt, which began life as the imperative form of the verb halten ‘hold, stop’ (a relative of English hold).=> hold
- halt (n.)
- "a stop, a halting," 1590s, from French halte (16c.) or Italian alto, ultimately from German Halt, imperative from Old High German halten "to hold" (see hold (v.)). A German military command borrowed into the Romanic languages 16c.
- halt (adj.)
- "lame," in Old English lemphalt "limping," from Proto-Germanic *haltaz (cognates: Old Saxon, Old Frisian halt, Old Norse haltr, Old High German halz, Gothic halts "lame"), from PIE *keld-, from root *kel- "to strike, cut," with derivatives meaning "something broken or cut off" (cognates: Russian koldyka "lame," Greek kolobos "broken, curtailed"). The noun meaning "one who limps; the lame collectively" is from c. 1200.
- halt (v.2)
- "to walk unsteadily, move with a limping gait," early 14c., from Old English haltian (Anglian), healtian (West Saxon), "to limp, be lame; to hesitate," from Proto-Germanic *halton (cognates: Old Saxon halton, Middle Dutch halten, Old High German halzen), derivative verb from the source of halt (adj.). Figurative use from early 15c. Related: Halted; halting.
- halt (v.1)
- "make a halt," 1650s, from halt (n.). As a command word, attested from 1796. Related: Halted; halting.
Example
- 1. Venezuela said it would halt shipments of subsidised oil .
- 2. Hospitals , sanitation plants and offices ground to a halt .
- 3. Plans may be delayed or diminished , but a complete halt to building is unlikely .
- 4. Mexican authorities ordered a halt to all non-essential activities for five days from may 1st .
- 5. If such behaviour is unchecked , then eventually the system may grind to a halt .