alter

noun

1. Misspelling of altar.

   “As an alter boy he remembered that walking between the alter and the gates was prohibited for everyone except the priest.”

   “The hardest part of being an alter boy was learning Latin. The mass was conducted in Latin and we had to learn to pray in Latin.”

verb

Etymology: From Old French alterer (French altérer), from Medieval Latin alterāre (“to make other”), from Latin alter (“the other”), from al- (seen in alius (“other”), alienus (“of another”), etc.; see alias, alien, etc.) + compar. suffix -ter.

1. To change the form or structure of.

   “Near-synonym: tweak”

   “No power in Venice can alter a decree.”

2. To become different.

   “[…] Passing the song of the hermit bird and the tallying song of my soul, / Victorious song, death’s outlet song, yet varying ever-altering song, […]”

3. To tailor clothes to make them fit.
4. To castrate, neuter or spay (a dog or other animal).
5. To affect mentally, as by psychotropic drugs or illness.

   “We don't know if he was altered on alcohol or drugs or anything […]”