▪ I. kilt, v.
(kɪlt)
Also 5 kylte.
[app. of Scand. origin: cf. Da. kilte (also kilte op) to tuck up, Sw. (dial.) kilta to swathe, swaddle; ON. had kilting, kjalta skirt, lap.]
1. trans. To gird up; to tuck up (the skirts) round the body. Also with up.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter lxiv. 7 [lxv. 6] Graythand hilles in þi vertu kiltid in powere [accinctus potentia]. 1483 Cath. Angl. 203/1 To kylte,..suffercinare, succingere. 1513 Douglas æneis i. vi. 27 Venus..With..Hir skirt kiltit till hir bair kne. 1535 Lyndesay Satyre 1380 Then help me for to kilt my clais. a 1724 in Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) II. 144 Come kilt up ye'r coats And let us to Edinburgh go. 1792 Burns Braw Lads Galla Water iii, I'll kilt my coats aboon my knee, And follow my love thro' the water. 1853 Reade Chr. Johnstone ii. 25 Of their petticoats, the outer one was kilted or gathered up towards the front. |
2. To fasten or tie up; to pull or hoist up; to ‘string up’, to hang.
| 1697 Cleland Poems 30 (Jam.) Their bare preaching now Makes the thrush-bush keep the cow, Better than Scots or English kings Could do by kilting them [the thieves] with strings. 1810 J. Cock Simple Strains 69 (Jam.) Many ane she's kiltet up Syne set them fairly on their doup. 1828 Scott Jrnl. 20 Feb., Our ancestors brought the country to order by kilting thieves and banditti with strings. |
3. intr. To go lightly and expeditiously (i.e. as with the loins girded).
| 1816 Scott Bl. Dwarf xvii, He..maun kilt awa' wi' ae bonny lass in the morning, and another at night,..but if he disna kilt himself out o' the country, I'se kilt him wi' a tow. 1894 Ian Maclaren Bonnie Brier Bush iv. iii. 150 Kiltin' up the braes. |
4. trans. To gather in vertical pleats, fastened at the top and free at the bottom, as in a kilt.
| 1887 J. Ashby-Sterry Lazy Minstrel (1892) 171 The skirt is of flannel most cunningly kilted. |
▪ II. kilt, n.
(kɪlt)
Also 8 quelt, kelt.
[f. kilt v.]
A part of the modern Highland dress, consisting of a skirt or petticoat reaching from the waist to the knee: it is usually made of tartan cloth, and is deeply plaited round the back and sides; hence, any similar article of dress worn in other countries.
| c 1730 Burt Lett. N. Scot. xxii. (1754) II. 185 Those among them who travel on Foot..vary it [the Trowze] into the Quelt..a small Part of the Plaid is set in Folds and girt round the Waste to make of it a short Petticoat that reaches half Way down the Thigh. 1746 Act 19–21 Geo. II, c. 39 §17 The..philebeg or little kilt. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 3 Sept., His piper..has a right to wear the kilt, or ancient Highland dress, with the purse, pistol, and durk. 1771 Pennant Tour Scot. (1790) I. 211 The feil beag, i.e. little plaid, also called kelt..is a modern substitute for the lower part of the plaid. 1814 Scott Wav. xvi, The short kilt, or petticoat, showed his sinewy and clean-made limbs. 1850 R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (ed. 2) I. 231 The dress of the [Bechuana] women consists of a kaross depending from the shoulders, and a short kilt. 1874 Boutell Arms & Arm. viii. 147 Thus was formed a species of kilt of armour, or iron petticoat. |
▪ III. kilt
obs. or dial. pa. pple. of kill v.