tilt

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /tɪlt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlt

From Middle English tilte, from Old English tyltan (“to be unsteady”), related to the adjective tealt (“unsteady”), from Proto-Germanic *taltaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *del-, *dul- (“to shake, hesitate”), see also Dutch touteren (“to tremble”), North Frisian talt, tolt (“unstable, shaky”).[1]. Cognate with Icelandic tölt (“an ambling place”).

The nominal sense of "a joust" appears around 1510, presumably derived from the barrier which separated the combatants, which suggests connection with tilt "covering". The modern transitive meaning is from 1590; the intransitive use appears 1620.

tilt (third-person singular simple present tilts, present participle tilting, simple past and past participle tilted)

1. (transitive) To slope or incline (something); to slant. [1590]

   Tilt the barrel to pour out its contents.

2. (intransitive) To be at an angle. [1620]
   • 1701, Nehemiah Grew, “Of the Use of Organized Bodies”, in Cosmologia Sacra: Or A Discourse of the Universe as It is the Creature and Kingdom of God. […], London: […] W. Rogers, S. Smith, and B[enjamin] Walford: […], OCLC 642328229, 1st book, paragraph 18, page 27:

     For as the Trunk of the Body, is kept from tilting forvvard by the Muſcules of the Back: So, from falling backvvard, by theſe of the Belly.

   • 2012 May 20, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Marge Gets A Job” (season 4, episode 7; originally aired 11/05/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club‎:

     “Marge Gets A Job” opens with the foundation of the Simpson house tilting perilously to one side, making the family homestead look like the suburban equivalent of the Leaning Tower Of Pisa.

3. (intransitive, jousting) To charge (at someone) with a lance.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, OCLC 932920499; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene ii:

     Auster and Aquilon with winged Steeds / All ſweating, tilt about the watery heauens, / With ſhiuering ſpeares enforcing thunderclaps, / And from their ſhields ſtrike flames of lightening

   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene i]:

     He tilts / With piercing steel at bold Mercutio's breast.

   • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Enid”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], OCLC 911789798, page 26:

     But in this tournament can no man tilt, / Except the lady he loves best be there.

4. (transitive) To point or thrust a weapon at.
   • c. 1609–1622?, John Fletcher, “The Womans Prize: Or, The Tamer Tamed”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, OCLC 3083972, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     And he should tilt her?

   • a. 1822 (date written)​, John Keats, “[Tragedies.] Otho the Great: A Tragedy in Five Acts.”, in [Horace Elisha Scudder], editor, The Complete Poetical Works and Letters of John Keats, Cambridge edition, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], published 1899, OCLC 560816164, Act V, scene v, lines 53–55, page 189, column 1:

     I say I quarrel’d with you; / We did not tilt each other – that’s a blessing, – / Good gods! no innocent blood upon my head!

5. (transitive) To point or thrust (a weapon).
   • 1708, John Philips, Cyder

     Sons against fathers tilt the fatal lance.

   • 1944 May and June, “Notes and News: Moniaive Branch Locomotive Power”, in Railway Magazine, page 182:

     Mr. Smith strongly tilts at Mr. McCarter's use of the adjective "unprepossessing" to describe the station buildings at Moniaive and elsewhere; [...].

6. To forge (something) with a tilt hammer.

   to tilt steel in order to render it more ductile

7. (pinball, of a machine) To intentionally let the ball fall down to the drain by disabling flippers and most targets, done as a punishment to the player when the machine is nudged too violently or frequently.
8. (poker, video games) To play worse than usual (often as a result of previous bad luck or losses).

• slope
• incline
• slant

• (photography): pan, cant

tilt (plural tilts)

1. A slope or inclination.
2. The inclination of part of the body, such as backbone, pelvis, head, etc.
3. (photography) The controlled vertical movement of a camera, or a device to achieve this.
4. A jousting contest. (countable) [1510]
   • 1928, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 11, in Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, page 139:

     Justs and tilts were held here weekly, while the great tourneys that occurred less often were given upon a field outside the castle wall upon the floor of the valley.

5. An attempt at something, such as a tilt at public office.
   • 2011 December 7, Phil McNulty, “Man City 2 - 0 Bayern Munich”, in BBC Sport‎:

     City will now make the Premier League an even bigger priority, while regrouping and planning again for what they hope will be another tilt at the Champions League next season.

6. A thrust, as with a lance.
   • 1716 December 9 (Gregorian calendar)​, Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 10. Wednesday, November 28. [1716.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, OCLC 1056445272:

     His Majesty […] entertain'd him with the Slaughter of two or three of his Liege Subjects, whom he very dexterously put to Death with the Tilt of his Lance.

7. A tilt hammer.

From Middle English telte, tield, teld, from Old English teld (“tent”), from Proto-West Germanic *teld, from Proto-Germanic *teldą (“tent”). Perhaps influenced by Middle Low German telt,[1] or Danish telt.[2] Cognates include German Zelt (“tent”), Old Norse tjald (“tent”) (whence also archaic Danish tjæld (“tent”)). More at teld.

tilt (plural tilts)

1. A canvas covering for carts, boats, etc. [1450]
   • 1907, Barbara Baynton, Sally Krimmer; Alan Lawson, editors, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 253:

     The tilt hooding the spring-cart was insecure - even the jolt from the down-and-up curving river bend near the house had brought it down twice.

2. Any covering overhead; especially, a tent.
   • a. 1669, John Denham, To Sir John Mennis, being invited from Calais to Boulogne, to eat a Pig

     But the rain made an ass
     Of tilt and canvas

tilt (third-person singular simple present tilts, present participle tilting, simple past and past participle tilted)

1. (transitive) To cover with a tilt, or awning.

• at full tilt
• atilt
• on tilt
• tilt at windmills
• tiltmeter
• tilt switch

• tilt on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Litt

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlt

tilt

1. second- and third-person singular present indicative of tillen
2. (archaic) plural imperative of tillen

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): [ˈtilt]
• Rhymes: -ilt

tilt

1. (transitive) to forbid, prohibit (someone: -nak/-nek)

(With verbal prefixes):

• tilt in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Unadapted borrowing from English tilt. In the non-pinball senses, a pseudo-anglicism.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtilt/[1]
• Rhymes: -ilt
• Hyphenation: tìlt

tilt m (invariable)

1. haywire state; breakdown; crash; down; out of order

   Il servizio è andato in tilt tra le 12 e le 15.

   The service went down between 12 pm and 3 pm.

   Il computer è andato in tilt.

   The computer crashed.

   (literally, “went in crash”)

   Martedì il sito del presidente è stato in tilt per varie ore.

   On Tuesday, the president's site was down for several hours.

2. short-circuit (unintended current flow)
3. tilt (pinball machine state)

• andare in tilt
• essere in tilt

• tilt in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana