Obs. Forms: 1–5 teld, 1, 4–5 telde, (3 tȝeld), 4 tield, teeld, 4–5 tilde, 5 tild, tyld, -e, telte. [OE. teld, ʓeteld = OLG. *teld (MDu. telde, telte, Kilian), MLG. telt, telde, LG. telt; OHG. zelt (mostly giselt), MHG. zelt (usually gezelt), Ger. zelt; ON. tjald (:—*teld), pl. tjǫld, Norw. tjeld, Sw. tält, dial. tjäll, Da. telt, tent, pavilion, app. a deriv. of teld-an str. vb. to cover (cf. OE. beteldan, oferteldan). The late form telte may have been influenced by continental forms: see also TILT.] A tent, pavilion, covering; hence, a tabernacle, dwelling.
a. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., III. ix. [xi.] § 2 (Camb. MS.). Mon teld [v.r. ʓeteld] þærofer abrædde.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. xviii. 9. On þam telde heo ys.
1037. in Thorpe, Charters (1865), 566/32. And Alfric biscop I biqueðe mine teld and min bedreaf.
c. 1205. Lay., 17491. Niȝe þusend teldes. Ibid., 24436. Þer weore on uelden moni þusend telden.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 12598. Þey come to þe Emperours telde. When þey were at his pauyloun … þey lyghte alle doun.
13[?]. Childh. Jesus, 44, in Herrig’s Archiv, LXXIV. 327. That owtelawe tuke hire to his tilde [rhymes wilde, childe, mylde].
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 127. Þese men … woneþ in tabernacles and in teeldis.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 4581. How suld ȝe telle withouten toles or any tild rere?
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 4656. Thei reysed vp bothe halle and tylde.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 488/1. Telte, or tente, tentorium.
a. 1500[?]. Chester Pl., vii. 6. From stif stormes my sheepe to sheild … Under Tildes them to hyde.
b. The tilt or awning of a boat or vessel: cf. TILT.
1307–8. Acc. Exch. K. R., Bd. 14 No. 14 (P.R.O.). Tieldes emptis … pro dicta Bargia.
1495. Wills Doctors’ Commons (Camden), 3. The barge with bailles, tilde, and ores belonging to the same.
c. A cage for carrying hawks.
1391. Earl Derby’s Exp. (Camden), 88. Pro tieldes per ipsum emptis ibidem ad cariandum les haukes, xiiij scot.
d. Comb., as teld-stede, dwelling-place, ‘tabernacle’; teldwyrhta (OE.), tent-wright, tentmaker.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., I. 392. Paulus … seðe wæs on woruldcræfte teld-wyrhta.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter cxix. [cxx.] 5. Wa to me, for mi telde-stede swa Forth-ferred es me fra [1388 Wyclif ibid., My dwelling in an alien lond is maad long].
