stutter
n. C2 Proficiency US //ˈstətɝ// UK //stˈʌtɐ// stut·ter
n. a sudden, sharp, and short movement or sound. It is an old word that people rarely use today.
n. a sudden, sharp, and brief movement or sound. Archaic in modern usage, though it appears in historical texts and specific dialects.
The horse gave a sudden stutter before it ran.
The old clock gave a loud stutter as the hour struck, waking everyone in the house.
The manuscript contains several instances of a mechanical stutter in the printing, suggesting the press was not properly maintained during the final stages of the run.
From Middle English stutten, stoten (“stutter”); cognate with Dutch stotteren (“stutter”).