Verb

(en verb)

To waver or be unsteady.

* Wiseman

He found his legs falter .

(ambitransitive) To stammer; to utter with hesitation, or in a weak and trembling manner.

* Byron

And here he faltered forth his last farewell.

* Milton

With faltering speech and visage incomposed.

To fail in distinctness or regularity of exercise; said of the mind or of thought.

* I. Taylor

Here indeed the power of disinct conception of space and distance falters .

To stumble.

(figuratively) To lose faith or vigor; to doubt or abandon (a cause).

*

And remember, comrades, your resolution must never falter .

To hesitate in purpose or action.

* Shakespeare

Ere her native king / Shall falter under foul rebellion's arms.

To cleanse or sift, as barley.

(Halliwell)

Verb

To wiggle or twitch; to move around nervously or idly.

* 1883:

"Look, Jim, how my fingers fidget ," he continued, in the pleading tone. "I can't keep e'm still, not I."

To cause to fidget; to make uneasy.

*{{quote-book, year=1905, author=

, title= , chapter=1 citation , passage= “Do I fidget you ?” he asked apologetically, whilst his long bony fingers buried themselves, string, knots, and all, into the capacious pockets of his magnificent tweed ulster.}}