stilt

stilt

English

A girl on stilts (walking poles).

A stilt (bird)

Etymology

From Middle English stilte, stulte, from Old English *stilte, *stylte, from Proto-Germanic *stiltijǭ, *staltijǭ, *stultijǭ (“stilt”), from Proto-Germanic *stelt- (“to be stiff”). Akin to Danish stylte, Dutch stelt, German Stelze.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stɪlt/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlt

Noun

stilt (plural stilts)

1. Either of two poles with footrests that allow someone to stand or walk above the ground; used mostly by entertainers.
2. A tall pillar or post used to support some structure; often above water.
3. Any of various wading birds of the genera Himantopus and Cladorhynchus, related to the avocet, that have extremely long legs and long thin bills.
4. A crutch.
5. The handle of a plough.
   • 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], Rob Roy. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, OCLC 82790126:

     He […] shot MacLaren when between the stilts of his plough.

Derived terms

• black-necked stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)
• stilt plover (Himantopus knudseni)
• stilt sandpiper (Calidris himantopus)

Translations

walking pole

Armenian: ոտնացուպ (hy) (otnacʿup) Belarusian: хадуля f (xadulja), дыба f (dyba) Bulgarian: кокили (bg) (kokili) Catalan: xanca (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 高蹺／高跷 (zh) (gāoqiào) Czech: chůdy m pl Danish: stylte Dutch: stelt (nl) f Estonian: kark Finnish: puujalka (fi) French: échasse (fr) f Galician: zanco m, chanca f German: Stelze (de) f Greek: Ancient: κωλόβαθρον n (kōlóbathron) Hungarian: gólyaláb (hu) Icelandic: stulta (is) f Irish: cos croise f Italian: trampolo (it) m Japanese: 竹馬 (たけうま, takeuma) Korean: 죽마 (ko) (jungma) Latin: grallae f pl Maori: poukoki, poutoti Norwegian: stylte Polish: szczudło n Portuguese: perna-de-pau f Romanian: piciorong (ro) n, catalige (ro) n pl Russian: ходу́ля (ru) f (xodúlja) Serbo-Croatian: ходуља f (hodulja), гигаља f (gigalja), штула f (štula) Spanish: zanco m Swedish: stylta (sv) Tagalog: kikik Turkish: tahta bacak Ukrainian: хідля f (xidlja), хідлі pl or f pl (xidli), ди́би pl (dýby) Vietnamese: cà kheo (vi)

pillar

Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Dutch: stelt (nl) f Finnish: paalu (fi), tolppa (fi) French: pilotis (fr) m German: Stelze (de) f Irish: cos taca f Italian: trampolo (it) m, palo (it) m Norwegian: Bokmål: stylte m Nynorsk: stylte f Portuguese: estaca (pt) f Russian: сва́я (ru) f (svája) Spanish: pilote (es) m

bird

Arabic: كُرْسُوع‎ m (kursūʿ), أَبُو الْمَغَازِل‎ m (ʾabū l-maḡāzil) Bengali: please add this translation if you can Czech: pisila Dhivehi: ތޭރަވާ އިލޮޅި‎ (tēravā iloḷi) Dutch: steltloper (nl) m Esperanto: himantopo Finnish: pitkäjalka (fi) French: échassier (fr) m German: Stelzenläufer (de) m Greek: Ancient: ἱμαντόπους m (himantópous) Hindi: please add this translation if you can Hungarian: please add this translation if you can Italian: cavaliere d'Italia m Kazakh: please add this translation if you can Persian: please add this translation if you can Polish: szczudłak (pl) m Portuguese: narceja (pt) f Romanian: piciorong (ro) n Russian: кули́к (ru) m (kulík), ходу́лочник (ru) (xodúločnik) Serbo-Croatian: vlastelica (sh) f Spanish: cigüeñuela f Swedish: styltlöpare (sv) c Uzbek: please add this translation if you can Venetian: sgambirla f

crutch — see crutch

handle of a plough

Albanian: dorak (sq) m, dorezë (sq) f Armenian: մաճ (hy) (mač) Dutch: trekstang f French: mancheron (fr) m Galician: rabela f German: Sterz (de) m Italian: stegola f, stiva (it) f Portuguese: rabiça (pt) f, esteva (pt) f Romanian: corn (ro) n Spanish: mancera (es) f, esteva (es) f Welsh: haeddel f

Verb

stilt (third-person singular simple present stilts, present participle stilting, simple past and past participle stilted)

1. to raise on stilts, or as if on stilts
2. to apply unnecessary pomp or formality

Further reading

• stilt on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Litts, tilts

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Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• stillet (Etymology 3)

Verb

stilt

1. past participle of stille

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

stilt

1. past participle of stilla

Adjective

stilt

1. neuter singular of still