From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Falter \Fal"ter\, v. t. To thrash in the chaff; also, to cleanse or sift, as barley. [Prov. Eng.] --Halliwell. [1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Falter \Fal"ter\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Faltered; p. pr. & vb. n. Faltering.] [OE. falteren, faltren, prob. from fault. See Fault, v. & n.] 1. To hesitate; to speak brokenly or weakly; to stammer; as, his tongue falters. [1913 Webster]
With faltering speech and visage incomposed. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
2. To tremble; to totter; to be unsteady. "He found his legs falter." --Wiseman. [1913 Webster]
3. To hesitate in purpose or action. [1913 Webster]
Ere her native king Shall falter under foul rebellion's arms. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
4. To fail in distinctness or regularity of exercise; -- said of the mind or of thought. [1913 Webster]
Here indeed the power of disinct conception of space and distance falters. --I. Taylor. [1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Falter \Fal"ter\, v. t. To utter with hesitation, or in a broken, trembling, or weak manner. [1913 Webster]
And here he faltered forth his last farewell. --Byron. [1913 Webster]
Mde me most happy, faltering "I am thine." --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Falter \Fal"ter\, n. [See Falter, v. i.] Hesitation; trembling; feebleness; an uncertain or broken sound; as, a slight falter in her voice. [1913 Webster]
The falter of an idle shepherd's pipe. --Lowell. [1913 Webster]