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  • celt
    celt
    noun
    an ax of stone or metal without perforations or grooves, for hafting.
  • Celt
    Celt
    noun
    a member of an Indo-European people now represented chiefly by the Irish, Gaels, Welsh, and Bretons.
  • Celt.
    Celt.
    abbreviation
    Celtic.

celt

1 American  
[selt] / sɛlt /

noun

Archaeology.
  • celts
    plural
  1. an ax of stone or metal without perforations or grooves, for hafting.


Celt 2 American  
[kelt, selt] / kɛlt, sɛlt /

noun

  1. a member of an Indo-European people now represented chiefly by the Irish, Gaels, Welsh, and Bretons.


Celt. 3 American  
Or Celt

abbreviation

  1. Celtic.


Celt 1 British  
/ sɛlt, kɛlt /

noun

  1. a person who speaks a Celtic language

  2. a member of an Indo-European people who in pre-Roman times inhabited Britain, Gaul, Spain, and other parts of W and central Europe

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

celt 2 British  
/ sɛlt /

noun

  1. archaeol a stone or metal axelike instrument with a bevelled edge

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of celt1

1705–15; < Late Latin *celtis chisel, found only in the ablative case celte (Vulgate, Job XIX, 24)

Origin of Celt2

1695–1705; < Latin Celtae (plural); in Greek Keltoí (plural)


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

On June 4, during a break from working on the structure, he held a celt - a polished, cylindrical, foot-long piece of stone used as a woodworking tool by prehistoric native Americans.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 13, 2020

“A celt is a kind of battle-axe,” said Arthur, surprising the magician with this piece of information more than he had been surprised for several generations.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

It has a border of chevrons along the edge of the side; and this is carried across the celt in the centre and at the commencement of the cutting-edge.

From The Bronze Age in Ireland by George Coffey

Several from a Copenhagen MS. were printed by Stern in the Zeitschr. f. celt.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 5 "Cat" to "Celt" by Various

Large partially polished celt of mottled volcanic tufa—½.

From Ancient art of the province of Chiriqui, Colombia Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1884-1885, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1888, pages 3-188 by William Henry Holmes

By Adrienne Celt Simon & Schuster: 320 pages, $28 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 19, 2022

Themes of migration and freedom were also central to Flight, an exuberant return from Afro Celt Sound System.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 28, 2018

This placed Celtic languages far from the Celt homelands in the middle of Europe at a very, very early date.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 17, 2016

Many of the rest were religious periodicals, but the list includes the American Celt, the Poultry Record, Whipple’s Daily Fire Reporter and Scholars’ Quarterly.

From Washington Times ● May 30, 2014

In either of these cases he would have been George Borrow the Celt, or rather, George p. xiiBorrow the Unique, but not a Scotsman—not an Irishman. 

From Wild Wales The People, Laguage & Scenery by George Henry Borrow

"The Celt. vind," observes Gluck, "comes from the same root as the Goth. hveit; it stands for cvind with an intrusive n; the root is cvid = the Germ. root hvit."

From The River-Names of Europe by Robert Ferguson

Celt. ā is not diphthongized, but becomes ē, e.g.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 5 "Cat" to "Celt" by Various

But there is a word of precisely opposite meaning, the Celt. arab, Welsh araf, gentle, which is very liable to intermix.

From The River-Names of Europe by Robert Ferguson

To the Celt. dubr, Welsh dwfr, water, are by common consent referred the names in the second division of the undermentioned.

From The River-Names of Europe by Robert Ferguson

Armstrong derives it from Celt. reidh-an, a smooth water, than which nothing can be more unsuitable—the characteristic of the river, as noticed by all observers, from Cæsar and Tacitus downwards—being that of rapidity.

From The River-Names of Europe by Robert Ferguson

Researchers also uncovered celts, or ax heads, made from shell and stone, including some made from basalt that likely came from the distant Appalachians.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 10, 2023

The third period might be placed at from 1500 to 1250 b.c., and the principal types falling within it are flanged celts with stop-ridges, tanged spear-heads, and larger dagger-blades, sometimes with bronze handles.

From The Bronze Age in Ireland by George Coffey

It has been found associated with stone celts; both of the roughly chipped and the highly polished kind, showing that these had not been entirely disused when bronze became available.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 6 "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of" by Various

Very few stone celts have been found in the Isle of Wight.

From The Geological Story of the Isle of Wight by J. Cecil Hughes

The socketed celts are, as a rule, unornamented; but there are a few which have been found in Ireland which are ornamented with ribs ending in pellets.

From The Bronze Age in Ireland by George Coffey

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