Obs. exc. dial. Forms: 4–6 waltre, 4–7, 9 dial. walter, 5 waltyr, 6 waulter, -tre, Sc. woltre, valter, 6 Sc., 8–9 dial. wolter. [Freq. of WALT v.: see -ER5. Cf. WELTER v.]
I. Intransitive senses.
1. To roll to and fro, move from side to side; to tumble or toss about; to lie sprawling on the ground, in mire, etc.
c. 1400. trans. Higden (Rolls), VII. 203. He feled a þing þat was myȝti and þicke waltre and turne atwixe hym and his wif.
c. 1400. Sege Jerus., 735. Litel he slepiþ, Bot walwyþ & wyndiþ & waltreþ a-boute.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xiii. 236. [She] lyys walteryng … by the fyere.
1529. [see TOLTER v.].
1530. Palsgr., 771/1. I walter, I tumble. Je me voystre. Hye you, your horse is walterynge yonder, he wyll breake his saddell but more happe be.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 565. So greit terrour in his mynd he tuke, That all that nycht he wolterit and he woik.
1568. Withals, Dict., 10 b/2. Voluto, to turne or walter in myre as hogges doe.
1580. Blundevil, Curing Horses Dis., xcii. 41 b. The horse will forsake his meate, and lie downe and wallow, and walter vpon the ground.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 1276. Sardanapalus … tumbling and lying along, waltring among a sort of concubines.
1692. Ray, Disc., II. ii. (1693), 87. The Globe cannot walter or reel towards any side.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Walter, wolter, to roll and twist about on the ground; as corn laid by the wind and rain; or as one who is rolled in the mire.
1880. Antrim & Down Gloss., s.v., ‘The potatoes lie down and walter on the ground,’ i. e. they remain lying.
b. Of a ship: To roll or be tossed on the waves.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 415. Hit waltered on þe wylde flod, went as hit lyste.
1560. Rolland, Seven Sages, 18. Upon the sey thay sufferit great perrell,… Walterand with wind out throw þe mudy wawis.
c. Of the stomach: To be upset or disturbed.
1540. J. Heywood, Four PP., 600. It … maketh your stomake sore to walter.
2. fig. To wallow or revel in (prosperity, pleasure, sin).
c. 1375. Cursor M., 4503 (Fairf.). Man þat walteres [Cott. weltres] in his welis.
1528. Roy, Rede me (Arb.), 62. They are … lyke to brut beastes and swyne, Waltrynge in synfull wretchednes.
1553. Bradford, Serm. Repent. (1574), H ij b. Trow you that such a one … wyl willingly walter & wallow in his wylful lusts, pleasures, and fantasies?
a. 1568. Ascham, Scholem., I. (Arb.), 76. If a man … walter in filthines like a Swyne.
a. 1598. Rollock, Serm., xi. (1616), 208. The naturall man waltering and wallowing in sinne.
3. To swing or float to and fro. Also fig.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 947. Þou waltres al in a weih & wel y vnderstande whider þe belaunce bremliest bouwes al-gate.
c. 1425. Cast. Persev., 2663, in Macro Plays, 156. Nedys, my loue must on hym lende, With Coueytyse to walter & wave.
c. 1520. Skelton, Magnyf., 1936. And some I make in a rope to totter and walter.
c. 1555. ? Coverdale, Carrying Christ’s Cross, iii. 29. The aungels gatheryng together ye wicked wretches (which now walter and walowe as the worlde and wynde bloweth) to be tyed in bondels, and cast into the fier.
1560. Rolland, Seven Sages, 44. He signifyis a mannis persoun, That walteris betuix wynde and waw Into this warld ay vp and doun.
4. To move or go unsteadily; to totter, stumble. Also, to go with a rolling gait, to waddle.
1399. Langl., Rich. Redeles, II. 189. So lymed leues were leyde all aboute,… þat where so þey walkid, þey waltrid dounwardis.
1480. Caxton, Ovid’s Met., XI. ii. He [Silenus] was, att that tyme, in Frygye, waltrynge and swaruyng what of wyn and of age.
1577. Dee, Relat. Spir., I. (1659), 186. [An adder and her young] She … suffereth them to hang upon her back, and so waltereth to her hole.
1703. Thoresby, Lett. to Ray, Wolter, as welter [‘to goe aside, or heavily, as Women with Child, or Fat People’ (Ray, 1691)].
5. Of waves: To surge or roll high. Of water, etc.: To flow, gush. Of a humour: To wander or ooze about the body.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., C. 142. Þe wawes ful wode waltered so hiȝe.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 684. Wel much was þe warme water þat waltered of yȝen.
1555. Phaër, Æneid, II. (1558), E ij. The fomy floud … waltring down the vales.
1567. Hollybush, Hom. Apoth., 23. The unnaturall or evell sweate is it that … waltereth only about the harte. Ibid., 36. Somtyme growe apostemes in the loynes of humors that are waltering and straying in the body.
1577. J. Bishop, Beautif. Blossoms, xvii. 84. Streames of teares waltering downe his cheekes.
II. Transitive senses.
6. To roll about, toss to and fro. Also fig. Also refl., to sprawl or wallow (on the ground, in the mire, etc.).
c. 1375. Cursor M., 21113. Quik þai haue his bodi flaine & waltered him in barli chaf.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., II. 204. And he [sc. the demoniac], cast doun in þe erþe, was waltrid and froþid [Vulg. Mark ix. 19. volutabatur spumans].
c. 1400. Master of Game (MS. Digby 182), ii. Þei smyteth þe grounde with the foote and walters hem as an horse.
c. 1450. Cov. Myst., 342. The fete … ar ful wete, Walterid in blood.
1508. Fisher, Penit. Ps., Wks. (1876), 204. Euen as an hors the softer myre or claye he waltreth hymselfe in the more easely he lyeth. Ibid., 358. The Sowe … waultering hir self in the myerie puddle.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 23. Quhill the cuntrie was walterit to and fra in this maner.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 92. In seas far waltred, he groyleth.
7. To overturn, overthrow.
1571. Sir J. Maitland, in Satir. Poems Reform., xxvii. 71. Bewar! we may be walteritt [v.rr. weltred, wolterit] or we witt, And lykwayis Loss our land and libertie.
8. dial. uses (see quots.).
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Walter, Wolter, to cause extreme fatigue…. ‘I am right-on woltered out, by my day’s work.’
1880. Antrim & Down Gloss., Walthered, mired or stuck in a boggy road, or swampy place. ‘Whiles in the mornin’ I find the branches of the trees all walthered and smashed,’ broken down into the mire.
Hence Waltering vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., C. 247. A wylde walterande wbal … bi þat bot flotte.
1501. Douglas, Pal. Hon., III. viii. Innumerabill folk I saw flotterand in feir, Quhilk pereist on the walterand wallis weir.
1528. Lyndesay, Dreme, 128. Quhare I mycht se The woltryng [v.r. waltreyng] of the wallis vp and doun.
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, II. 267. Whoes waltring tongs did lick their hissing mouthes.
1552. Huloet, Waltrynge or full of wallowynge, volutabundus.
c. 1557. Abp. Parker, Ps. xxxvi. 99. So pride hath hym puft by his waltering wealth.
1578. H. Wotton, Courtlie Controv., 44. As a man dizzie with the waltering of a vessel, tossed by the hollowe waues of raging seas.
1588. T. Hughes, Misfort. Arthur, III. Chor. 42. The windes, that sweepe the waltering waues.
