palter
VerbWordNet 3.0
Verb (1)
- be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold informationSynonyms: beat around the bushequivocatetergiversateprevaricate
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onerousadjective
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Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Pal′ter intransitive verb [past tense & past participle Paltered; present participle & verbal noun Paltering.]
Origin: See Paltry.
1. To haggle. obsolete Randle Cotgrave
2. 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.— William Shakespeare
Who never sold the truth to serve the hour, Nor paltered with eternal God for power.— Alfred Tennyson
3. To babble; to chatter. obsolete
Pal′ter transitive verb
To trifle with; to waste; to squander in paltry ways or on worthless things. obsolete “Palter out your time in the penal statutes.” Francis, & Fletcher, John. Beaumont
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54