PALTER • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Palter

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verb

Palter v. t. To trifle with; to waste; to squander in paltry ways or on worthless things. (Obs.) "Palter out your time in the penal statutes."

Palter v. i. (past & past part. paltered; pres. part. paltering)

To haggle. (Obs.)

To act in insincere or deceitful manner; to play false; to equivocate; to shift; to dodge; to trifle. "Romans, that have spoke the word, And will not palter." "Who never sold the truth to serve the hour, Nor paltered with eternal God for power."

To babble; to chatter. (Obs.)

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Etymology of 'Palter'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Palter" Quotes from Famous Books

... in him confide, No secret from him cherish; Whenever thou hast aught to hide, The better feelings perish. In whatsoe'er ye do or say, O never with him palter; Remember too, thou saidst 'obey' Before the ...

— The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, February 1844 - Volume 23, Number 2 • Various

... believe this Almighty frame without a Mind; but who is now prepared to determine the precise sense in which our illustrious philosopher used the words 'without a mind.' We believe his own interpretation altogether unchristian. 'To palter in a double sense' has ever been the practice of philosophers who, like Bacon, knew more than they found it discreet to utter. But with all their discretion, Locke, Milton, and even Newton did not succeed in establishing an orthodox reputation. The passages from Locke given ...

— An Apology for Atheism - Addressed to Religious Investigators of Every Denomination - by One of Its Apostles • Charles Southwell

... vital difference between ourselves and them is that we promptly and explicitly obey it; we don't palter with it in the slightest; 'we don't bandy words with our sovereign,' as Doctor Johnson said. I wonder," the speaker added, with the briskness of one to whom a vivid thought suddenly occurs, "how it would work if one went and did exactly the contrary of what ...

— Imaginary Interviews • W. D. Howells

... will protect the Waelsung!" At this first intimation of rebellion in his child,—this incipient treachery of his own will,—Wotan becomes stern, lays down his command irrevocably, with threats of crushing retribution if this child of his shall dare to palter with his expressed will. "Keep a watch over yourself! Hold yourself in strong constraint! Put forth all your valour in the fight!... Have well in mind what I command: Siegmund is to fall! This be ...

— The Wagnerian Romances • Gertrude Hall

... school, seemed to have a clear duty in the matter. Had the culprit been any one else—had it been Silk, for instance, or Gilks—would he have hung back? He knew he would not, painful as the task would be. The honour of the school was in question, and he had no right to palter with that. ...

— The Willoughby Captains • Talbot Baines Reed

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