Falter sb.

[f. FALTER v.¹] A faltering or quavering, unsteadiness.

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1834. C’tess Morley, Dacre, I. xi. 233. She replied, with a slight falter in her voice, ‘I fear to expect unbroken happiness would be only to court disappointment.’

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1880. Mrs. Forrester, Roy & Viola, I. 74. Now and then she fancied she heard a falter in Viola’s tones.

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b. A faltering or quavering sound.

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c. 1842. Lowell, Rhœcus, Poems (1844), 121.

	And far away upon an emerald slope
	The falter of an idle shepherd’s pipe.

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