palter, v.
(ˈpɔːltə(r))
Also 6–7 paulter.
[Appears first in 16th c. The form is that of an iterative in -er, like faulter, totter, waver; but no suitable primitive palt is known, and no corresponding vb. is known in any other lang.]
I. † 1. a. intr. and trans. To speak indistinctly or idly; to say or recite in an indistinct tone; to mumble, babble. Obs.
| 1538 Bale Thre Lawes 496, I neuer mysse but paulter, Our blessed ladyes psaulter. 1575 Gammer Gurton's Needle ii. iii, One while his tongue it ran, and paltered of a cat. 1872 in C. Sumner Wks. VI. 34 Some weak-backed quietist, who, afraid to look this thing in the face, would palter weak commonplaces. |
† b. trans. To jumble up; to patch up (a composition). Obs. rare.
| 1588 Greene Perimedes To Rdrs., I keepe my old course, to palter vp some thing in Prose, vsing mine old poesie still, Omne tulit punctum. |
II. † 2. trans. To shift or alter (in position). Obs.
| 1577 Harrison England ii. ix. (1877) i. 209 Sith most of them [ecclesiastical feasts] are fixed, and palter not their place of standing. |
3. a. intr. To shift, shuffle, equivocate, prevaricate, in statement or dealing; to deal crookedly or evasively; to play fast and loose, use trickery. Usually const. with.
| 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. ii. i. 126 What other Bond [neede we] Then secret Romans, that haue spoke the word, And will not palter? 1605 ― Macb. v. viii. 20 Be these Iugling Fiends no more beleeu'd, That palter with vs in a double sence, That keepe the word of promise to our eare, And breake it to our hope. 1606 ― Ant. & Cl. iii. xi. 63 Now I must..dodge And palter in the shifts of lownes. 1648 Milton Tenure Kings 2 After they have juggl'd and palter'd with the World. 1706 Phillips, Palter, to play fast and loose, to deal unfairly. 1813 M. Edgeworth Patron. (1833) I. xviii. 302 Oh! Caroline, don't go back—don't palter with us—abide by your own words. 1823 Scott Quentin D. xxxii, If you palter or double in your answers, I will have thee hung alive in an iron chain. 1847 Emerson Poems, Sphinx 52 He creepeth and peepeth, He palters and steals. 1884 Ld. Blackburn in Law Rep. 9 App. Cases 201 If they palter with him in a double sense [i.e. by ambiguous expressions], it may be that they lie like truth; but I think they lie, and it is a fraud. |
b. To shuffle or haggle in bargaining; to huckster, bargain, or parley in matters of duty or honour.
| 1611 Cotgr., Harceler,..to haggle, hucke, hedge, or paulter long in the buying of a commoditie. 1618 Bolton Florus 93 But the Carthaginians paltring in the case, quoth Fabius,..What meanes this delay? 1838 Dickens O. Twist xlvii, Hatred of the girl who had dared to palter with strangers. 1852 Tennyson Ode Wellington 180 Who never sold the truth to serve the hour, Nor palter'd with Eternal God for power. ― Third of February 24 What! have we fought for Freedom from our prime, At last to dodge and palter with a public crime? 1883 J. Hawthorne Dust I. 90 Only fools and cowards palter about morality. |
c. To play fast and loose with (a matter or thing); to dilly-dally, to trifle with.
| 1814 Mrs. J. West Alicia de Lacy IV. 252 If my courage palters with my duty. 1841 L. Hunt Seer (1864) 35 Time will not palter with the real state of the case. 1877 L. Morris Epic Hades ii. 137 My good Lord Who loved too much, to palter with the past. 1880 C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark 428 He urged that nothing should be allowed to come in the way of this great work, that it should not be paltered with. |
† d. trans. To barter; to corrupt. Obs.
| 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. ii. iii. Wks. (1851) 173 Where bribery and corruption solicits, paltring the free and monilesse power of discipline with a carnall satisfaction by the purse. |
† 4. trans. To trifle away, squander. Obs.
| 1625 Fletcher Elder Brother ii. i, 'Tis not to be a justice of peace as you are, And palter out your time i' th' penal statutes. 1706 Phillips, To Palter,..also to squander away. |
Hence † ˈpaltered ppl. a. Obs., ?gained by paltering (sense 3 b).
| a 1625 J. Sempill Picktooth for Pope (1669) 13 Puft vp with pampering pride of paltred pelfs. |