hilt
[hilt]
- the handle of a sword or dagger.
- the handle of any weapon or tool.
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- to furnish with a hilt.
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- to the hilt, to the maximum extent or degree; completely; fully: to play the role to the hilt.Also up to the hilt.
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Origin of hilt
before 900; Middle English, Old English hilt(e); cognate with Middle Dutch hilt(e), Old Norse hjalt, Old High German helza handle of a sword
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
hilt
- the handle or shaft of a sword, dagger, etc
- to the hilt to the full
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- (tr) to supply with a hilt
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Word Origin
Old English; related to Old Norse hjalt, Old Saxon helta oar handle, Old High German helza
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for to the hilt
hilt
n.
Old English hilt "hilt, handle of a sword or dagger," from Proto-Germanic *helt (cf. Old Norse hjalt, Old High German helza "hilt," Old Saxon helta "oar handle"), perhaps from PIE *kel- "to strike." Formerly also used in plural in same sense as singular.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with to the hilt
to the hilt
Also, up to the hilt. Completely, to the maximum degree, as in The house was mortgaged up to the hilt. This idiom alludes to the handle (hilt) of a sword, the only portion that remains out when the weapon is plunged all the way in. The figurative use of the term was first recorded in 1687.
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hilt
see to the hilt.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.