palter

palter
    v 1: be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or
         withhold information [syn: {beat around the bush},
         {equivocate}, {tergiversate}, {prevaricate}, {palter}]
    

Palter \Pal"ter\, v. t.
   To trifle with; to waste; to squander in paltry ways or on
   worthless things. [Obs.] "Palter out your time in the penal
   statutes." --Beau. & Fl.
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Palter \Pal"ter\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Paltered}; p. pr. & vb.
   n. {Paltering}.] [See {Paltry}.]
   1. To haggle. [Obs.] --Cotgrave.
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   2. To act in insincere or deceitful manner; to play false; to
      equivocate; to shift; to dodge; to trifle.
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            Romans, that have spoke the word,
            And will not palter.                  --Shak.
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            Who never sold the truth to serve the hour,
            Nor paltered with eternal God for power. --Tennyson.
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   3. To babble; to chatter. [Obs.]
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43 Moby Thesaurus words for "palter":
      around the bush, back and fill, bargain, beat about,
      beg the question, bicker, boggle, cavil, chaffer, choplogic,
      dicker, dodge, duck, equivocate, evade, evade the issue, falsify,
      fence, fib, hedge, hem and haw, higgle, huckster, hum and haw, lie,
      mince the truth, mince words, mystify, nitpick, obscure, parry,
      pick nits, prevaricate, pussyfoot, quibble, shift, shuffle, shy,
      sidestep, split hairs, tergiversate, waffle, weasel