Tilt, v. t.
Etymology: [OE. tilten, tulten, to totter, fall, AS. tealt unstable, precarious; akin to tealtrian to totter, to vacillate, D. tel amble, ambling pace, G. zelt, Icel. tölt an ambling pace, tölta to amble. Cf. Totter.]
1. To incline; to tip; to raise one end of for discharging liquor; as, to tilt a barrel.
2. To point or thrust, as a lance. Sons against fathers tilt the fatal lance. J. Philips.
3. To point or thrust a weapon at. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.
4. To hammer or forge with a tilt hammer; as, to tilt steel in order to render it more ductile.
4 other Webster entries under this spelling
Tilt, n.
1. A covering overhead; especially, a tent. Denham.
2. The cloth covering of a cart or a wagon.
3. (Naut.)
A cloth cover of a boat; a small canopy or awning extended over the sternsheets of a boat. Tilt boat (Naut.), a boat covered with canvas or other cloth. -- Tilt roof (Arch.), a round-headed roof, like the canopy of a wagon.
Tilt, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tilted; p. pr. & vb. n. Tilting.]
To cover with a tilt, or awning.
Tilt, v. i.
1. To run or ride, and thrust with a lance; to practice the military game or exercise of thrusting with a lance, as a combatant on horseback; to joust; also, figuratively, to engage in any combat or movement resembling that of horsemen tilting with lances. He tilts With piercing steel at bold Mercutio's breast. Shak. Swords out, and tilting one at other's breast. Shak. But in this tournament can no man tilt. Tennyson. The fleet, swift tilting, o'er the Pope.
2. To lean; to fall partly over; to tip. The trunk of the body is kept from tilting forward by the muscles of the back. Grew.
Tilt, n.
1. A thrust, as with a lance. Addison.
2. A military exercise on horseback, in which the combatants attacked each other with lances; a tournament.
3. See Tilt hammer, in the Vocabulary.
4. Inclination forward; as, the tilt of a cask. Full tilt, with full force. Dampier.