Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Hesitate

Hes′i·tate (·tāt), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Hesitated; p. pr. & vb. n. Hesitating.] [L. haesitatus, p. p. of haesitare, intens. fr. haerere to hesitate, stick fast; to hang or hold fast. Cf. Aghast, Gaze, Adhere.]

1. To stop or pause respecting decision or action; to be in suspense or uncertainty as to a determination; as, he hesitated whether to accept the offer or not; men often hesitate in forming a judgment. Pope.

2. To stammer; to falter in speaking.

Syn. — To doubt; waver; scruple; deliberate; demur; falter; stammer.

Hes′i·tate, v. t. To utter with hesitation or to intimate by a reluctant manner. [Poetic & R.]

Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike. Pope.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.