stilt
pronunciation
How to pronounce stilt in British English:
UK [stɪlt]
How to pronounce stilt in American English:
US [stɪlt]
-
- Noun:
- a column of wood or steel or concrete that is driven into the ground to provide support for a structure
- one of two stout poles with foot rests in the middle; used for walking high above the ground
- long-legged three-toed wading bird of brackish marshes of Australia
- long-legged three-toed black-and-white wading bird of inland ponds and marshes or brackish lagoons
Word Origin
- stilt
- stilt: [14] Stilt was probably acquired from some Low German source – Low German and Flemish have stilte. Its ultimate ancestor was a prehistoric Germanic *steltjōn, which was formed from a base meaning ‘walk stiffly, strut’ (source also of German stolz ‘proud’ and English stout). The derived stilted ‘over-dignified’ dates from the early 19th century.=> stout
- stilt (n.)
- early 14c., "a crutch," a common Germanic word (cognates: Danish stylte, Swedish stylta, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch stelte "stilt," Old High German stelza "plow handle, crutch"), though the exact relationship of them all is unclear, from Proto-Germanic *steltijon, from PIE root *stel- "to put, stand" (see stall (n.1)). Application to "wooden poles for walking across marshy ground, etc." is from mid-15c. Meaning "one of the posts on which a building is raised from the ground" is first attested 1690s. As a type of bird with long legs, from 1831. Stilted in the figurative sense of "pompous, stuffy" is first recorded 1820.
Example
- 1. Tainan four stilt grass plover protected areas .
- 2. Stilt dance basic moves are yangko step .
- 3. The stilt walkers are so tall !
- 4. 10 / 15 Coney island , us : a stilt walker shelters from the rain before the start of the 2009 mermaid parade
- 5. The main model in the series is katie hardwick who is not only a model she is also a circus performer , aerial silks expert , stilt walker and all manner of other wonderful things .