tilt
/tɪlt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.66 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To forge (something) with a tilt hammer.
verb
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
To enter a state of frustration and worsened performance resulting from a series of losses.
Slang
Example Sentences
- "Tilt the barrel to pour out its contents."
- "For as the Trunk of the Body, is kept from tilting forvvard by the Muſcules of the Back: So, from falling backvvard, by theſe of the Belly."
- "“Marge Gets A Job” opens with the foundation of the Simpson house tilting perilously to one side, making the family homestead look like the suburban equivalent of the Leaning Tower Of Pisa."
- "Auster and Aquilon with winged Steeds / All ſweating, tilt about the watery heauens, / With ſhiuering ſpeares enforcing thunderclaps, / And from their ſhields ſtrike flames of lightening"
- "He tilts / With piercing steel at bold Mercutio's breast."
- "But in this tournament can no man tilt, / Except the lady he loves best be there."
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /tɪlt/
- British English: /tɪlt/