faltering, ppl. a.
(ˈfɔːltərɪŋ, ˈfɒltərɪŋ)
[f. falter v.1 + -ing2.]
1. That falters; in senses of the vb.: a. of a person, the limbs, etc.
| 1549 Coverdale Erasm. Par. Heb. xii. 12 Your weake and foltryng knees. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 846 Oft his [Adam's] heart..Misgave him; hee the faultring measure felt. 1744 Akenside Pleas. Imag. iii. 210 With faultering feet. 1820 Keats St. Agnes xxii, Her faltering hand upon the balustrade. 1884 J. Colborne Hicks Pasha 178 The poor fellow then staggered on with faltering step. |
b. of the voice, tongue, accent. Also of a person speaking, a breeze.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. xi. 12 Swelling throbs empeach His foltering tongue. 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. (1851) 253 Speaking deeds against faltering words. 1741 Middleton Cicero I. iv. 318 In broken, faultering accents. 1773 Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. v, The faultering gentleman, with looks on the ground. 1810 Scott Lady of L. ii xiv, My dull ears Catch no faltering breeze. 1878 Masque Poets 80 The small sweet voices of the night Begin in faltering music to awake. |
2. quasi-adv. = falteringly.
| a 1741 T. Chalkley Wks. (1749) 191 He spoke very low and faultering. |