kilt
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
-
to draw or tuck up, as the skirt, about oneself.
-
to provide (a skirt) with kilt pleats.
noun
verb
-
to tuck (a skirt) up around one's body
-
to put pleats in (cloth, a skirt, etc)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of kilt
1300–50; Middle English kylte, perhaps < Scandinavian; compare Danish kilte to tuck up
Explanation
The Scottish kilt resembles a plaid skirt, but it's traditionally worn by men. Bagpipers and Highland dancers often wear kilts, and you may even see hipsters in Brooklyn donning them. Today men and women both wear kilts, usually held closed by a large pin and accompanied by knee socks, but its tradition began with men and boys in Scotland. You're most likely to see Scots in kilts at formal events like weddings, Highland games, and funerals. The word kilt comes from the Middle English verb kilten, "to tuck up."
Vocabulary lists containing kilt
Western Europe - Introductory
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Western Europe - Middle School and High School
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for January 27–February 2, 2024
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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.
Marion Foster, founder of the College of Master Kilt Tailors, has been made an MBE for services to Scottish craftsmanship.
From BBC • Dec. 29, 2025
Connery and Trump were photographed together at several events in New York, including the Johnnie Walker Dressed to Kilt fashion show in the early 2000s.
From The Guardian • Nov. 1, 2020
Q. Kilt wedding: My boyfriend of five years recently proposed, and we are planning to get married early next year.
From Slate • Sep. 20, 2017
Moments later, Team Kilt was summoned into battle.
From Washington Post • Nov. 22, 2015
The most populous phylum in our locker room, the Kilt Pins took up three rows of lockers.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
