haffle

English

Etymology

Compare German haften (“to cling, stick to; (dialect) to stop, stammer”).

Verb

haffle (third-person singular simple present haffles, present participle haffling, simple past and past participle haffled)

1. (UK, dialect) To stammer; to speak unintelligibly; to prevaricate.
   • 1840, James Everett, Wesleyan Takings:

     the clergy were haffling and timid

References

• “haffle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.