stilt
/stɪlt/
stilt noun: either of two poles with footrests that allow someone to stand or walk above the ground; used mostly by entertainers.
Noun
stilt (plural stilts)
- Either of two poles with footrests that allow someone to stand or walk above the ground; used mostly by entertainers.
- A tall pillar or post used to support some structure; often above water.
- Any of various wading birds of the genera Himantopus and Cladorhynchus, related to the avocet, that have extremely long legs and long thin bills.
- A crutch.
- The handle of a plough.
- He[…]shot MacLaren when between the stilts of his plough,[…]1829 December, [Walter Scott], “Introduction”, in Rob Roy (Waverley Novels; VII), Edinburgh: […] Cadell & Company; London: Simpkin & Marshall, →OCLC, pages lxxxvii–lxxxviii
Verb
stilt (third-person singular simple present stilts, present participle stilting, simple past and past participle stilted)
- to raise on stilts, or as if on stilts
- to apply unnecessary pomp or formality
stilt meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
stilt in Tamil
- முட்டு
stilt in Bengali
- walking pole
- রণপা ronpa
stilt in Malayalam
- പൊയ്ക്കാൽ, ഊന്നുവടി
stilt in Kannada
- ಮರಗಾಲು, ಮೆಟ್ಟುಗೋಲು
More languagesFewer languages
- stilt in Tagalog
- kikik
- stilt in Arabic
- كُرْسُوع kursūʕ, أَبُو الْمَغَازِل ʔabū l-maḡāzil
- stilt in Vietnamese
- cà kheo
- Dhivehi
- ތޭރަވާ އިލޮޅި tēravā iloḷi
Forms of stilt
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | stilts |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | stilts |
| present participle | stilting |
| past participle | stilted |
| past | stilted |
Origin of stilt
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.
Words formed from stilt
Phrases with stilt
Words that rhyme with stilt
7 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about stilt
- What does stilt mean?
- Stilt means either of two poles with footrests that allow someone to stand or walk above the ground; used mostly by entertainers.
- What is stilt in Tamil?
- Stilt in Tamil is முட்டு. See Stilt meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is stilt?
- Stilt can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce stilt?
- Stilt is pronounced /stɪlt/.
- What is the plural of stilt?
- The plural of stilt is stilts.
Words near stilt in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: stilt (page history and authors); stilt (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stilt (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stilt (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-stilt.wav.
Cite this entry: “stilt.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stilt. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.