kilterとは 意味・読み方・使い方

発音

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈkɪltə/
• (General American) IPA: /ˈkɪltɚ/
• 韻: -ɪltə(ɹ)
• ハイフネーション: kilt‧er

語源 1

A variant of dialectal kelter (“good condition, order”), of unknown origin; possibly related to kilt (“to gather up (skirts) around the body”) (cognate with Danish kilte (“to tuck”)), or Scots kilt (“proper way of doing something, knack”) (probably from kilt (“a slope; a tilt”), possibly a variant of English tilt). In the 19th century, kelter was the more common form in the United Kingdom, while kilter was more common in the United States. Due to the influence of the latter, kilter is now the more prevalent form in all English varieties.

名詞

kilter (uncountable)

1. (chiefly in the negative) Chiefly in out of kilter: (good) condition, form, or order; fettle. [from 17th c.]

   not in kilter

   • 1890, Charles Erskine, chapter V, in Twenty Years before the Mast: […], Boston, Mass.: Published by the author, →OCLC, page 72:

     [T]hey are either round-shouldered, knock-kneed, bow-legged, or parrot-toed; some are also badly cross-eyed. It seems as if they can see two different ways at the same time. Jack says they are lop-sided and out of kilter altogether.

   • 1909, Robert W[illiam] Service, “The Man from Eldorado”, in Ballads of a Cheechako, Toronto, Ont.: William Briggs, →OCLC, part I, stanza 2, page 71:

     [H]e lived on tinned tomatoes, beef embalmed and sourdough bread, / On rusty beans and bacon furred with mould; / His stomach’s out of kilter and his system full of lead, / But it's over, and his poke is full of gold.

別の表記

• kelter (archaic)

派生語

語源 2

Probably a variant of dialectal kelter (“odds and ends; litter, rubbish”); further etymology unknown.

名詞

kilter (plural kilters)

1. (card games, chiefly poker) A hand of playing cards which is useless.

参照

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “kilter”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

アナグラム

• kirtle