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tiller

1
[ til-er ]
/ ˈtÉȘl ər /
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noun
a person who tills; farmer.
a person or thing that tills; cultivator.
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Origin of tiller

1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English tiller(e), tiliere; see origin at till2, -er1

Words nearby tiller

tillable, tillage, till all hours, Tillamook Bay, tillandsia, tiller, tillerman, Till Eulenspiegel, Tilley, till hell freezes over, Tillich

Other definitions for tiller (2 of 3)

tiller2
[ til-er ]
/ ˈtÉȘl ər /
noun Nautical.
a bar or lever fitted to the head of a rudder, for turning the rudder in steering.

Origin of tiller

2
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English teler, telor, tiler(e) “the stock of a crossbow or firearm; tiller (for a boat),” from Old French telier, teiler “weaver's beam,” from Medieval Latin tēlārium, equivalent to Latin tēl(a) “cloth being woven on a loom; loom; plan, design” + -ārium -ary

OTHER WORDS FROM tiller

till·er·less, adjective

Other definitions for tiller (3 of 3)

tiller3
[ til-er ]
/ ˈtÉȘl ər /
noun
a plant shoot that springs from the root or bottom of the original stalk.
a sapling.
verb (used without object)
(of a plant) to put forth new shoots from the root or around the bottom of the original stalk.

Origin of tiller

3
First recorded before 1000; Old English telgor, tealgor “twig, shoot,” (not recorded in Middle English ); akin to Old English telga “branch, bough,” Old Norse tjalga “twig, branch,” Dutch telg
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Words related to tiller

grower, laborer, peasant, producer, rancher, knob, shaft, stem, wheel, agriculturalist, agronomist, breeder, clodhopper, cob, cropper, cultivator, feeder, gardener, gleaner, harvester

How to use tiller in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for tiller (1 of 2)

tiller1
/ (ˈtÉȘlə) /
noun
nautical a handle fixed to the top of a rudderpost to serve as a lever in steering it

Derived forms of tiller

tillerless, adjective

Word Origin for tiller

C14: from Anglo-French teiler beam of a loom, from Medieval Latin tēlārium, from Latin tēla web

British Dictionary definitions for tiller (2 of 2)

tiller2
/ (ˈtÉȘlə) /
noun
a shoot that arises from the base of the stem in grasses
a less common name for sapling
verb
(intr) (of a plant) to produce tillers

Word Origin for tiller

Old English telgor twig; related to Icelandic tjalga branch
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
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