Walt
adj, name, noun, phrase, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Someone who impersonates a veteran (retired member of the armed forces). UK, derogatory, slang
"You're just a bloody Walt!"
- 1 To roll; tumble dialectal, intransitive, obsolete
- 2 To turn; cast; hurl; fling; overturn dialectal, obsolete, transitive
- 1 unsteady; crank archaic
- 1 Acronym of we are learning to.... abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
- 1 A diminutive of the male given name Walter.
Example
More examples"Walt Whitman is my favorite American poet."
Etymology
Clipping of Walter. The derogatory British sense is a reference to the fictional character Walter Mitty from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a mild-mannered pushover who has wild fantasies about his life in various daring roles.
From Middle English walten, from Old English wæltan, weltan, wieltan, wyltan, wiltan, from Proto-West Germanic *waltijan, from Proto-Germanic *waltijaną (“to roll; roll about”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to turn; wind; twist”). Cognate with German wälzen (“to wallow; roll”), Danish vælte (“to tumble; overthrow”), Swedish välta (“to roll; tumble over; overthrow”). Related to waltz.
From Middle English *walt, from Old English *wealt (attested in unwealt (“not given to roll; steady”), sinwealt (“circular, eternally rolling”)), from Proto-Germanic *waltaz (“changing; unstable”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to turn; wind; twist”).
Related phrases
More for "walt"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.