# halt
## English
### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /hɒlt/
** Audio (UK):(file)
** (Conservative RP) IPA: /hɔːlt/
* (US) IPA: /hɔlt/
** (cot–caught merger) IPA: /hɑlt/
* Rhymes: -ɒlt

### Etymology 1

From Middle English halten, from Old English healtian (“to be lame, walk with a limp”), from Proto-Germanic *haltōną, related to *haltaz. English usage in the sense of 'make a halt' is from the noun. Cognate with North Frisian halte, Swedish halta.

#### Verb

halt (third-person singular simple present halts, present participle halting, simple past and past participle halted) (obsolete)
* (intransitive) To limp; move with a limping gait.
** c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]: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.
** 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]: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.
* (intransitive) To stand in doubt whether to proceed, or what to do; hesitate; be uncertain; linger; delay; mammer.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings 18:21:How long halt ye between two opinions?
* (intransitive) To be lame, faulty, or defective, as in connection with ideas, or in measure, or in versification.
* To waver.
* To falter.

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

From Middle French halt, from early modern German halt (“stop!”), imperative of halten (“to hold, to stop”). More at hold.

#### Verb

halt (third-person singular simple present halts, present participle halting, simple past and past participle halted)
* (intransitive) To stop marching.
* (intransitive) To stop either temporarily or permanently.
** 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:And it was while all were passionately intent upon the pleasing and snake-like progress of their uncle that a young girl in furs, ascending the stairs two at a time, peeped perfunctorily into the nursery as she passed the hallway—and halted amazed.
* (transitive) To bring to a stop.
* (transitive) To cause to discontinue.
    The contract negotiations halted operations for at least a week.

##### Synonyms

* (to stop marching):
* (to stop): brake, desist, stay; See also Thesaurus:stop
* (to cause something to stop): freeze, immobilize; See also Thesaurus:immobilize
* (to cause to discontinue): break off, terminate, shut down, stop; See also Thesaurus:desist

##### Translations
#### Noun

halt (plural halts)
* A cessation, either temporary or permanent.
    The contract negotiations put a halt to operations.
** 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:Without any halt they marched.
** 1962 April, R. K. Evans, “The Acceptance Testing of Diesel Locomotives”, in Modern Railways, page 268:Because most diesel failures can be traced to electrical faults, minor in themselves but often difficult to pin-point, any unscheduled halt during a trial run is often the signal for the frenzied unfolding of wiring diagrams and the appearance of an impressive array of voltmeters and circuit testers.
* (rail transport) A minor railway station (usually unstaffed) in the United Kingdom.
    The halt itself never achieved much importance, even with workers coming to and from the adjacent works.
** 1961 November, H. G. Ellison, P. G. Barlow, “Journey through France: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 668:On once more we swung, bumping uneasily along in the antique narrow-gauge coach, with gloomy woods and gathering night outside, shouts and songs (and quacks) inside—this was not at all the sort of train ordained by the logical strategists in Paris—then grinding to a stop at a mysterious halt which was no more than a nameboard in the pinewoods, without even a footpath leading to it, but nevertheless with a solitary passenger stolidly waiting.

##### Synonyms

* (cessation: temporary): hiatus, moratorium, recess; see also Thesaurus:pause
* (cessation: permanent): close, endpoint, terminus; see also Thesaurus:finish

##### Derived terms

* call a halt
* grind to a halt
* half-halt

##### Translations
### Etymology 3

From Middle English halt, from Old English healt, from Proto-West Germanic *halt, from Proto-Germanic *haltaz (“halt, lame”), from Proto-Indo-European *kol-d-, from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to beat, strike, cut, slash”). Cognate with Danish halt, Swedish halt.

#### Adjective

halt (comparative more halt, superlative most halt)
* (archaic) Lame, limping.
** 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Mark:It is better for the to goo halt into lyfe, then with ij. fete to be cast into hell […]
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 14:21:Bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

#### Noun

halt (plural halts)
* (dated) Lameness; a limp.

### Etymology 4

Borrowed from French halte.

#### Noun

halt (plural halts)
* (British, Ireland) A small railroad station, usually unstaffed or with very few staff, and with few or no facilities.
** 2024 June 10, Wikipedia contributors, “Train station”, in English Wikipedia‎, Wikimedia Foundation:Halts were normally unstaffed, tickets being sold on the train.

##### Derived terms

* haltkeeper

### Anagrams

* thal, lath, Thal

## Alemannic German
### Etymology

From Middle High German halt. Cognate with German halt (adverb).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /halt/

### Adverb

halt
* so, just, simply
** 1978, Rolf Lyssy & Christa Maerker, Die Schweizermacher, (transcript):
    Chömmer halt e chli früner. Schadet a nüt.So we'll arrive a little earlier. Won't do any harm.

## Czech
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈɦalt]

### Interjection

halt
* Alternative form of holt

## Danish
### Etymology

From Old Norse haltr

### Adjective

halt
* lame

## East Central German
### Etymology

From Middle High German halt, from Old High German halt, pertaining to Old High German halto (“soon, fast”). Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *haldiz, according to Duden, ultimately related to *halþaz (“inclined, sloping”). Compare German halt.

### Adjective

halt
* (Erzgebirgisch) so, just, simply
    Sis halt su.It's just like that.

### References

* ↑ “halt” in Duden online

### Further reading

* 2020 June 11, Hendrik Heidler, Hendrik Heidler's 400 Seiten: Echtes Erzgebirgisch: Wuu de Hasen Hoosn haaßn un de Hosen Huusn do sei mir drhamm: Das Original Wörterbuch: Ratgeber und Fundgrube der erzgebirgischen Mund- und Lebensart: Erzgebirgisch – Deutsch / Deutsch – Erzgebirgisch‎, 3. geänderte Auflage edition, Norderstedt: BoD – Books on Demand, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 57:

## German
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /halt/

### Etymology 1

From the verb halten (“to hold; to stop”).

#### Verb

halt
* singular imperative of halten

#### Interjection

halt!
* stop!, wait!

##### Descendants

* → Dutch: halt
* → Italian: alt
* → Spanish: alto
* → Portuguese: alto
* → Swedish: halt
* → Middle French: halt
** French: halte
*** → Dutch: halte
*** → Greek: αλτ (alt)
** → English: halt

### Etymology 2

From Middle High German halt, pertaining to Old High German halto (“soon, fast”). Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *haldiz (related to *halþaz (“inclined”)), an adverbial comparative like *batiz.

#### Adverb

halt
* (colloquial, modal particle) Indicating that something is generally known, or cannot be changed, or the like; often untranslatable; so, just, simply, indeed, well
    Synonym: eben
    Er ist halt ein Idiot. ― Well, he’s an idiot.
    Dann müssen wir halt härter arbeiten.Then we’ll just have to work harder.

##### Usage notes

* The word is originally southern German and is still considered so by some contemporary dictionaries. It has, however, become common throughout the language area during the past decades.

##### Descendants

* → Czech: holt

##### See also

* ja

### Further reading

* “halt” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

## Hungarian
### Etymology

hal (“to die”) +‎ -t (past-tense and past-participle suffix)

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈhɒlt]
* Hyphenation: halt
* Rhymes: -ɒlt

### Verb

halt
* third-person singular indicative past indefinite of hal

#### Usage notes

This form normally occurs when a verbal prefix is separated from the verb:
* halt (…) meg, meg … halt ― meghalt ― meghal
* and some more, see its derivatives with verbal prefixes.

### Participle

halt
* past participle of hal

#### Declension
## Irish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [hal̪ˠt̪ˠ]

### Noun

halt m
* h-prothesized form of alt

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology 1

From Old Norse haltr, from Proto-Germanic *haltaz.

#### Pronunciation

* Homophones: hallt, halvt

#### Adjective

halt (indefinite singular halt, definite singular and plural halte, comparative haltare, indefinite superlative haltast, definite superlative haltaste)
* limp, limping

#### Verb

halt
* imperative of halta

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Participle

halt (definite singular and plural halte)
* past participle of hala

#### Verb

halt
* supine of hala

### References

* “halt” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Old French
### Etymology

From a conflation of Frankish *hauh, *hōh (“high, tall, elevated”) and Latin altus (“high, raised, profound”).

### Pronunciation

IPA: /ˈhalt/

### Adjective

halt m (oblique and nominative feminine singular halte)
* high; elevated

### Adverb

halt
* loud; loudly

#### Derived terms

* haltement

### Descendants

* Middle French: hault
** French: haut

## Old Norse
### Adjective

halt
* strong neuter nominative/accusative singular of haltr

### Verb

halt
* second-person singular imperative active of halda

## Swedish
### Etymology

From German Halt

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

halt c
* content, level (relative amount of something, in a mixture or the like)
    alkoholhaltalcohol content
    fetthaltfat content
    sanningshaltveracity ("truth content")
    en hög halt av alkohol i blodeta high concentration of alcohol in the blood
* stopping (during a march, or more generally)
    Hären gjorde haltThe army stopped ("made halt")

#### Related terms

* -haltig

### Interjection

halt
* halt! (stop!) (during a march, or more generally)

### Adjective

halt (not comparable)
* having a limp, lame, halt

#### Declension

$^1$ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative. $^2$ Dated or archaic. $^3$ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

#### Related terms

* halta

### Adjective

halt
* indefinite neuter singular of hal

### References

* halt in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* halt in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* halt in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)