Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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noun
A small knobbed structure in some two-winged insects, one of a pair that are flapped rapidly and function as accelerometers to maintain stability in flight.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: biology, entomology, natural-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
either of the rudimentary hind wings of dipterous insects; used for maintaining equilibrium during flight
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: halter, balancer
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: wing
History
From Ancient Greek ἁλτῆρες (haltêres, “weights held in the hand to give an impetus in leaping”). Note that in the original Greek, there seems to have been no singular for ἁλτῆρες (haltêres), and some authorities maintain that halteres is a plurale tantum, but in English entomological usage, haltere sometimes appears as a back-formation. Sometimes the singular halter is used instead, but this may lead to confusion with other, unrelated meanings of halter.
Across languages
11 source translations are retained for this English entry.
