Forms: α. 3 cowlte, pl. quoiltene, 4 qwylte, 4–5 quilte, 5 qu-, qvylte, (coylte), 5–6 quylt, 5– quilt. β. north. 5 qwhilte, wilt, wylt, 5–6 whilt(e. γ. 5–6 twilt, twylt. [a. OF. cuilte (12th c.), coilte (later coite, coete, couete, mod. couette):—*colcta, *culcta:—L. culcita a stuffed sack, mattress, cushion, etc., whence also Sp. and Pg. colcha. Also OF. coute (later written couste, coulte):—*colta, *culta. The L. variant culcitra is represented by It. coltrice, OSp. colcedra, and its shortened form *culctra by It. coltre, Genevan coitre, couatre, OF. cotre.]
1. An article of bed-furniture, consisting essentially of two large pieces of woven material having a layer of some soft substance (such as wool, flock or down) placed between them; originally, an article of this kind for lying on (now obs.); in later use, a coverlet of similar make, esp. one in which the lining is kept in place by stitches or lines of stitching passing through the whole (the mediæval quiltpoint or counterpoint, q.v.); hence, any thick outer bed-covering, a counterpane.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., 188/125. Maketh a bed … Of quoiltene and of materasz.
a. 1300. Body & Soul, in Map’s Poems 334. Ȝwere beon … Thine cowltes and thi covertoures?
c. 1320. Sir Beues (MS. A.), 3996. Foure hondred beddes of selk echon, Quiltes of gold þar vpon.
c. 1450. Merlin, 539. Thei lay down to slepe vpon the grasse for other quyltes ne pilowes hadde thei noon.
1454. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 148. ij qwhiltez … j whilte.
1477. in Ripon Ch. Acts (Surtees), 179. Unum twylt.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of A., II. xxxvi. 154. Coyltes or matrases or sacques.
1544. Phaër, Regim. Lyfe (1553), A viij b. A coife, made of double linnen clothe, and sowed like a cotten quilt.
1626. Middleton, Women Beware Women, III. i. 27. Never a green silk quilt is there … To cast upon my bed?
1692. Locke, Educ., 23. Let his Bed be hard, and rather Quilts than Feathers.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 237. The way of lodging upon quilts, and in beds … I need not describe.
1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 13, ¶ 8. We have … three flourished quilts for every bed.
1852. Mrs. Smythies, Bride Elect, xxv. She threw herself on her knees by her bed side, and hid her face in the quilt.
b. transf. A thick covering († or soft bed). † Also humorously applied to a fat person.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., IV. ii. 54. How now blowne Jack? how now Quilt?
1693. Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., II. 92. You must lay a finger thick of Moss upon those Shelves, which may serve, as it were for a kind of Quilt.
1801. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Tears & Smiles, Wks. 1812, V. 58. To hide their slumbering heads beneath Those downy quilts, their wings.
1863. Baring-Gould, Iceland, 115. The dull quilt of cloud obscuring the sun.
c. The material of or for a quilt; quilting.
1766. W. Gordon, Gen. Counting-ho., 427. 1 piece yard-wide quilt.
2. A piece of padded material used to defend the body, as a substitute or lining for armor.
1592. Wyrley, Armorie, Capitall de Buz, 127. No hardned steele, no quilt, no warped meale Could make resist.
1625. K. Long, trans. Barclay’s Argenis, II. vii. 84. The inside of the Bracelet … being lined with a silken quilt, next to his arme.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, IV. 219. The hauberk, and the tough interior quilt … its force repress’d.
1870. Bryant, Homer, I. IV. 111. The plated quilt which next his skin The hero wore.
† 3. A pad smeared or stuffed with a medicinal substance, and applied to some part of the body.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 339. The same rennet applied as a cataplasme vpon a quilt of wooll.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 56. The Quilts of Roses, Spices,… &c. are nothing so helpfull as to take a Cake of New bread.
1684. trans. Bonet’s Merc. Compit., III. 68. Concerning Quilts and Caps … such as are made of very strong scented things do affect the Head.
4. attrib. and Comb. a. objective gen., as quilt-maker, -manufacturer; † b. = quilted, as quilt-cap, -nightgown, -work.
c. 1515. Cocke Lorell’s B., 9. Quylte makers, shermen, and armorers.
1623. T. Goad, Dolef. Euen. Song, 7. Hee … put vpon his head a red quilt cap, hauing a linnen white one vnder it.
1676. Lond. Gaz., No. 1081/4. Also Six Holland Shifts … one Quilt Night Gown. Ibid. (1709), No. 4559/4. Michael Scott of Fetter-lane,… Quilt-maker.
