stilt

American  

[stilt] / stɪlt /

noun

stilts plural

1. one of two poles, each with a support for the foot at some distance above the bottom end, enabling the wearer to walk with their feet above the ground.

2. one of several posts supporting a structure built above the surface of land or water.

3. Ceramics. a three-armed support for an object being fired.

4. any of several wading birds with very long pink legs and a long, slender bill, including the black-and-white Cladorhynchus leucocephalus and Himantopus himantopus.

5. British Dialect.

   1. a plow handle.

   2. a crutch.

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verb (used with object)

1. to raise on or as if on stilts.

stilt British  

/ stɪlt /

noun

1. either of a pair of two long poles with footrests on which a person stands and walks, as used by circus clowns

2. a long post or column that is used with others to support a building above ground level

3. any of several shore birds of the genera Himantopus and Cladorhynchus, similar to the avocets but having a straight bill

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verb

1. (tr) to raise or place on or as if on stilts

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• stiltlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• stilts
  plural

Etymology

Origin of stilt

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English stilte; cognate with Low German stilte “pole,” German Stelze

Explanation

Stilts are walking devices that make the person wearing them much taller than usual. When you use stilts, you stand on foot rests and walk along far above the ground. Stilts are special poles, either for walking tall or for supporting a structure that might otherwise be damaged by water. You can sometimes see people walking on stilts at a circus or parade, and you can see houses on stilts in some beachfront communities. Walking stilts are sometimes also used by workers, including the stilts worn by window washers and fruit farmers.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stilt stilts

The National Endowment for the Arts had a couple of stilt dancers from New Orleans.

From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2026

This year's carnival featured musical performances, bedazzled horses, huge dragons and dancing stilt walkers.

From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2026

It’s shifted over the years — there were stilt walkers for a bit, and Sawdust’s historical site notes there was once a mascot in “Jelf,” part jester, part elf.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2025

"Conducting research on Must Farm is a bit like getting an estate agent's tour of a Bronze Age stilt house," said David Gibson, report co-author and Archaeological Manager at CAU.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 20, 2024

Mrs. Cripe didn’t ring up a stilt after the farm women left, so they may have come in just for the toothpicks.

From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck

While Major League Baseball has been sweating over pitch clocks, ghost runners and the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System, the Savannah Bananas have been juggling, dancing, cartwheeling along the baselines and running to first on stilts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026

Many of Raja's community, more widely known as the Onge, still live in near isolation in neat thatched homes on stilts in coastal forests.

From Barron's ● May 18, 2026

Choreographed dances, acrobatic tricks, a pitcher on stilts and other antics keep the entertainment flowing.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2026

Every family—including Sothea and his wife, who took in six children—got its own wooden house, built Cambodian-style on stilts on a leafy riverside property Johnson purchased in Phnom Penh.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2025

He stood over us, twelve feet tall in spangled top hat and stilts.

From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck

Related Words

• angular
• gangly
• gaunt
• lanky
• rangy
• sinewy
• skinny
• slender
• slim
• sparse
• svelte
• wiry