stilt

[ stilt ]

noun

1. one of two poles, each with a support for the foot at some distance above the bottom end, enabling the wearer to walk with their feet above the ground.
2. one of several posts supporting a structure built above the surface of land or water.
3. Ceramics. a three-armed support for an object being fired.
4. any of several wading birds with very long pink legs and a long, slender bill, including the black-and-white Cladorhynchus leucocephalus and Himantopus himantopus.
5. British Dialect.
   1. a plow handle.
   2. a crutch.

verb (used with object)

1. to raise on or as if on stilts.

stilt

/ stɪlt /

noun

1. either of a pair of two long poles with footrests on which a person stands and walks, as used by circus clowns
2. a long post or column that is used with others to support a building above ground level
3. any of several shore birds of the genera Himantopus and Cladorhynchus, similar to the avocets but having a straight bill

verb

1. tr to raise or place on or as if on stilts

Other Words From

• stiltlike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of stilt¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English stilte; cognate with Low German stilte “pole,” German Stelze

Word History and Origins

Origin of stilt¹

C14 (in the sense: crutch, handle of a plough): related to Low German stilte pole, Norwegian stilta

Example Sentences

Houses and businesses are built on stilts because rains regularly lead to monthslong floods.

From Seattle Times

From a distance, it resembles a bird blind — or perhaps the concrete stilts that lift houses in informal settlements over volcanic hillsides around Quito, the Ecuadorean capital 20 miles to the east.

From New York Times

The other two ram their heads against the rotting stilts of his shack.

From Literature

Their home is on stilts near the Trinity River, and they felt relief when the water began to recede on Thursday.

From Seattle Times

The carcasses of half-built carriages hover above the factory floor, propped up on stilts, the veins of their wiring dangling loose.

From BBC

Related Words

• heighten
• raise
• uplift