tiller1
[til-er]
Origin of tiller1
tiller2
[til-er]
- a bar or lever fitted to the head of a rudder, for turning the rudder in steering.
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Origin of tiller2
1375–1425; late Middle English < Anglo-French teiler weaver's beam; Old French teilier < Medieval Latin tēlārium, equivalent to Latin tēl(a) warp + -ārium -ary
tiller3
[til-er]
- a plant shoot that springs from the root or bottom of the original stalk.
- a sapling.
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- (of a plant) to put forth new shoots from the root or around the bottom of the original stalk.
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Origin of tiller3
before 1000; Old English telgor twig, shoot (not recorded in ME); akin to telge rod, Old Norse tjalga branch, telgja to cut
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for tiller
Contemporary Examples
Today the Moomin industry sails merrily along without her restraining hand on the tiller.
After Tiller is largely devoid of politicking, instead choosing to simply follow the four doctors about their business.
Their ineptitude required the seaman to abandon his post at the tiller and man an oar himself.
Tiller, for example, was frequently derided on The O'Reilly Factor.
But what exactly did O'Reilly say about Tiller, and in what context?
Historical Examples
Then he remembered the look on his master's face as he stood at the tiller.
Buried Cities: Pompeii, Olympia, MycenaeJennie Hall
In silence the man unshipped the tiller and moved toward the cleats.
The Black BagLouis Joseph Vance
Calculating the instant to a nicety, he paid off the sheet and pulled up the tiller.
The Black BagLouis Joseph Vance
Wake up Dick there, and let him take his turn at the tiller.
The bar or lever that is fixed to the top of the rudder-post is called a tiller.
Boys' Book of Model BoatsRaymond Francis Yates
tiller1
- nautical a handle fixed to the top of a rudderpost to serve as a lever in steering it
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Word Origin
C14: from Anglo-French teiler beam of a loom, from Medieval Latin tēlārium, from Latin tēla web
tiller2
- a shoot that arises from the base of the stem in grasses
- a less common name for sapling
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- (intr) (of a plant) to produce tillers
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Word Origin
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
Word Origin and History for tiller
n.
mid-14c., "stock of a crossbow," from Old French telier "stock of a crossbow" (c.1200), originally "weaver's beam," from Medieval Latin telarium, from Latin tela "web, loom," from PIE *teks-la-, from root *teks- "to weave" (see texture). Meaning "bar to turn the rudder of a boat" first recorded 1620s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper