“Tilting” is a form of
tilt
/tɪlt/ verb, noun, proper noun
Forms tilts tilting tilted
- verb (transitive) To slope or incline (something); to slant. “Tilt the barrel to pour out its contents.”
- verb (intransitive) To be at an angle.
- verb (intransitive, jousting) To charge (at someone) with a lance.
- verb (transitive) To point or thrust a weapon at.
- verb (transitive) To point or thrust (a weapon).
- verb To forge (something) with a tilt hammer. “to tilt steel in order to render it more ductile”
- verb (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.
- verb (originally poker, video games, chess, slang) To enter a state of frustration and worsened performance resulting from a series of losses.
- noun A slope or inclination.
- noun The inclination of part of the body, such as backbone, pelvis, head, etc.
- noun (photography) The controlled vertical movement of a camera, or a device to achieve this.
- noun A jousting contest. (countable)
- noun An attempt, run, or bid for something; commonly with a sense of bold defiance or against steep odds. “He made a tilt at public office”
- noun A thrust, as with a lance.
- noun A tilt hammer.
- noun A penalty triggered when a player physically shakes, lifts, or bangs a pinball machine too violently in an attempt to influence the path of the ball.
- noun A canvas covering for carts, boats, etc.
- noun Any covering overhead; especially, a tent.
- verb (transitive) To cover with a tilt, or awning.
- proper noun A river in Perth and Kinross council area, Scotland, that joins the River Garry at Blair Atholl.
Synonyms
slope incline slant cock cant joust controversy contention contestation disputation disceptation argument arguing list inclination lean leaning rock careen sway tip angle cant over pitch wobble shift
Etymology
From Middle English tilte, from Old English *tyltan, *tieltan (“to be unsteady”), related to the adjective tealt (“unsteady”), from Proto-West Germanic *talt, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *del-, *dul- (“to shake, hesitate”), see also Dutch touteren (“to tremble”), North Frisian talt, tolt (“unstable, shaky”). Cognate with Icelandic tölt (“an ambling pace”).
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.
The sense of gaming frustration is said to originate with pinball.
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, or Danish telt. Cognates include German Zelt (“tent”), Old Norse tjald (“tent”) (whence also archaic Danish tjæld (“tent”)). More at teld.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A covering overhead; especially, a tent. Denham.
- noun The cloth covering of a cart or a wagon.
- verb To cover with a tilt, or awning.
- verb To incline; to tip; to raise one end of for discharging liquor; as, to tilt a barrel.
Etymology [OE. telt (perhaps from the Danish), teld, AS. teld, geteld; akin to OD. telde, G. zelt, Icel. tjald, Sw. tält, tjäll, Dan. telt, and ASThe beteldan to cover.]
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.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tilt”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details