Also 6 quilte, 6 (9 dial.) twilt(e. [f. QUILT sb.1]
1. trans. To pad, line or cover (a thing) with some material, after the method employed in making a quilt, or in some similar way.
1555. J. Proctor, Hist. Wyat’s Rebellion, 35. A priuie cote that he had quilted with angels.
1577. Harrison, England, II. xvi. (1877), I. 279. Jackes quilted and couered ouer with leather.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 56. A Bagge quilted with Bran, is likewise very good.
1682. Wheler, Journ. Greece, I. 16. Course Ticking-Cloth, well quilted with Wool.
1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull (1727), 82. Mayn’t I quilt my rope? It galls my neck strangely.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, iv. His black velvet bonnet was lined with steel, quilted between the metal and his head.
1869. Trollope, He knew, etc. xxxvi. (1878), 205. I am quilting your cap.
transf. and fig. 1630. Dekker, 2nd Pt. Honest Wh., Wks. 1873, II. 149. Ile so quilt your cap with old Iron, that your coxcombe shall ake the worse these seuen yeeres for ’t.
1650. Fuller, Pisgah, V. xxi. 184. Long standing tents were quilted with timber, for their stronger support.
a. 1678. Marvell, Upon Appleton House, 422. The plain Lyes quilted ore with bodies slain.
1808. Scott, Marm., V. iii. His steel-jack, a swarthy vest, With iron quilted well.
b. To cover with interlaced cord.
1611. Chapman, Iliad, X. 230. His helmet fashiond of a hide: the workman did bestow Much labour in it, quilting it, with bowstrings.
1776. [see QUILTING vbl. sb. 1].
1802. James, Milit. Dict., s.v. Laboratory, With a strong packthread the whole is quilted to keep the shot from moving.
1838. Dickens, Old C. Shop (C. D. ed.), 197. A short pipe quilted over with string.
2. To fasten together (two pieces or thicknesses of woven material) by stitches or lines of stitching, so as to hold in position a layer of some soft substance placed between them. Also, to sew (several thicknesses) together, usually by stitches arranged in some regular or decorative pattern.
1555. Eden, Decades, 79. The mens [apparell] is double and quilted.
1599. A. M., trans. Gabelhouer’s Bk. Physicke, 96/1. Quilte the bagge least the herbes sacke the one vpon the other.
1615. Markham, Eng. Housew., II. i. (1668), 12. Quilt it in a manner of a course imbroydery.
1727. Swift, Gulliver, I. viii. By quilting thirteen fold of their strongest linnen together.
1794. W. Felton, Carriages (1801), II. 16. Quilting the lining [of a Coach] with small tufts.
1870. Rock, Text. Fab., I. 14. Skirt of a Lady’s Dress;… quilted round the lower border with a scroll.
transf. 1593. Nashe, 4 Lett. Confut., 63. Thy Father … had neuer the art to twilt vp such a grim triangle of hair as that.
b. intr. To admit of being sewn as a quilt.
1622. Markham, 5 Decades War, x. 38. Buckram … is too stiffe and unplyable, by which means it will not quilt like the other.
c. fig. To compile (a literary work) by putting together scraps from various sources; to join together (extracts) as in a quilt.
In some cases the reference is to a patchwork quilt: cf. QUILTED 2.
1605. Camden, Rem. (1636), 14. It’s quilted as it were out of shreds of divers Poets.
1649. Milton, Eikon., i. Wks. (1851), 344. Manuals, and Handmaids of Devotion,… clapt together and quilted out of Scripture phrases.
1891. Rev. of Rev., 510/2. Mrs. Ross quilts together numerous extracts.
d. To mark or seam with points or lines resembling the stitching in a quilt.
1760. Goldsm., Cit. W., xlvi. A hateful phiz, quilted into a thousand seams by the hand of deformity.
1808. Sketches of Character (1813), I. 164. ‘Poor Amelia!’ cried Mrs. Pytt, ‘she’s terribly quilted’ [with smallpox].
3. To sew up (some object or material) between two pieces of stuff, as in making a quilt.
1562. Bulleyn, Bk. Simples (1579), 65. The Nutmegge … is holsome in plasters for the stomacke, quilted in Leather and Sylke.
1634. T. Johnson, Parey’s Chirurg., XXVI. xxxix. (1678), 656. The powders … must be sewed up or quilted in a bag of Linnen or Taffaty.
1695. Blackmore, Pr. Arth., IX. 361. Those that … were found too light Quilt Lead into their Belts to give them weight.
1745. Byrom, Rem. (1857), 410. He had three guineas quilted in the flap of his waistcoat.
1891. W. D. Hamilton, Pref. St. Papers, Dom. Ser. 1645–47, p. ix. These secret despatches … were carried by a woman quilted up in a truss of linen.
fig. 1642. Sir E. Dering, Sp. on Relig., 54. Some of the Protestant [Bishops] doe quilt a gentler sence into these words.
4. intr. To make a quilt or quilts. U.S.
1861. Mrs. Stowe, Pearl Orr’s Isl., 21. Miss Roxy and Miss Ruey … could upholster and quilt.
1882. C. D. Warner, Washington Irving, iii. 32. A number of girls were quilting.
