palter

1. To talk insincerely; to prevaricate or equivocate in speech or actions.

2. (now rare) To trifle.Examples: "Palter out your time in the penal statutes."; "Behold this man, stored with genius, wit, learning, and a hundred good natural gifts: see how he has wrecked them, by paltering with his honesty, and forgetting to respect himself."; "He waited and waited, in the faith that Schinkel was dealing with them in his slow, categorical Teutonic way, and only objurgated the cabinetmaker for having in the first place paltered with his sacred trust. Why hadn't he come straight to him—whatever the mysterious document was—instead of talking it over with French featherheads?"archaic