[f. STILT sb.]

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  1.  trans. To raise as on stilts; to elevate artificially (lit. and fig.).

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1649.  J. H., Motion to Parlt., 26. Some … by the foresaid means stilt themselves into some profession.

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1802.  Anna Seward, Lett. (1811), VI. 29. Southey told a friend of mine … that it was the finest poetic work which had appeared these fifty years. So Johnson stilted up Blackmore.

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1825.  Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 516. The Sole [is] adapted by the workman … to stilt the foot.

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1849.  Dana, Geol., ii. (1850), 55. The atoll usually seems to stand as if stilted up in a fathomless sea.

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1882.  Pop. Sci. Monthly, XX. 389. In low water the boats often run aground on the sand-bars, and have to be stilted over them with timbers.

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1884.  Tennyson, Becket, II. ii. That would stilt up York to twice himself.

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  b.  Arch. To raise (an arch, vault, or other structure) above the ordinary level by a ‘stilt’ or course of masonry beneath (see STILT sb. 4 b).

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1835.  R. Willis, Archit. Mid. Ages, vii. 76. The problem of vaulting an unequally sided rectangle … had early presented itself to the Romans, who … were led to the discovery … of stilting the arches.

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1845.  F. A. Paley, Gothic Mouldings, 66. Decorated bases are often stilted, or raised above the floor,… by graduated stages or tables.

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a. 1878.  Sir G. Scott, Lect. Archit. (1879), II. 163. The Roman builders solved the problem … by what is called stilting the narrower arch; that is, raising its springing till its crown becomes level with that of the wider arch.

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  c.  Book-binding. To bind (a book) in projecting covers so as to make it uniform with a volume of a larger size.

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1824.  Dibdin, Libr. Comp., 597. The third volume is often stilted, to make it dress with its companions.

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1895.  Bookseller’s Catalogue, In one vol., royal octavo (stilted to folio).

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  2.  To fit (a plow) with a ‘stilt.’ dial.

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a. 1883.  F. Harper, in Mod. Scott. Poets, VI. 345.

        Twice forty years an’ mair, nae doot,
Has passed awa’ sin’ ‘Airchie Scott’
First fixed thy ribs, an’ waulled thy snoot,
      An’ clinched thy broo;
An’ stiltit thee, an’ turned thee oot
      A noble ploo!

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  3.  intr. To walk on stilts; fig. (of a horse) ? to lift the legs high in walking or running, to prance.

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1785.  Burns, Epist. Davie, xi. My spavet Pegasus will limp, Till ance he’s fairly het; And then he’ll hilch, and stilt, and jump, An rin an unco fit.

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1861.  W. W. Webb, in Med. Times, 29 June, 680/1. Our young Blondins do stilt over the artificial Niagaras we construct for them.

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