Definition of "halter"

halter¹

/ˈhɔltɚ/

noun
plural halters
1. A bitless headpiece of rope or straps, placed on the head of animals such as cattle or horses to lead or tie them.
2. A rope with a noose, for hanging criminals; the gallows rope.
  Quotations
  And Crates said, that love was cured with hunger, if not by time; and in him that liked not these two meanes, by the halter [translating hart].
  1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […]
  “ […] No rogue e’er felt the halter draw, with a good opinion of the law, and perhaps my own detestation of the law arises from my having frequently broken it. […].”
  1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad
3. A halter top.
verb
third-person singular simple present halters, present participle haltering, simple past and past participle haltered
1. (transitive) To place a halter on.

/ˈhɔltɚ/

/ˈhɔltɚ/