| 释义 |
▪ I. † ˈkelter1 north. Obs.
[Of obscure origin; cf. kelt2. Ir. and Gaelic cealtar prob. from Eng.]
1. A coarse cloth used for outer garments. Chiefly attrib.
1502Ld. Treas. Acc. Scot. (1900) II. 198 For making of ane cote of kelter. 1505Ibid. III. 38 For ane blak keltir cote to the King. 1543Richmond Wills (Surtees) 39, I gyue and beqwethe to Henry Warryner a kelter jacket. 16..Lord of Lorn in Roxb. Ball. (1873) II. 350 He put him on an old Kelter coat, And Hose of the same above the knee.
2. A garment made of this cloth.
1562Richmond Wills (Surtees) 152, v kelters and a blakene xliiijs. 1580Inv. T. Wilson, Kendal (Somerset Ho.), A Romeland keltar.
Hence keltering vbl. n., ? lining with kelter.
1507Ld. Treas. Acc. Scot. (1901) III. 254 Item for vj elne Rislis blak to be an cote to the King..vjli. Item, for keltering of it..iijs.
▪ II. kelter2, kilter|ˈkɛltə(r), ˈkɪltə(r)|
[Etym. obscure. Widely diffused in Eng. dial. from Northumb. and Cumb. to Cornwall, and occasional in literature. More frequent in U.S. (in form kilter).]
Good condition, order; state of health or spirits. Used in the phrases out of kelter, in (good, high) kelter, to get into kelter.
α1643R. Williams Key Lang. Amer. 177 Their Gunnes they..often sell many a score to the English, when they are a little out of frame or Kelter. 1674Ray S. & E. Country Words 69 Kelter or Kilter, Frame, order. a1677Barrow Serm. vi. Wks. 1716 I. 50 If the organs of Prayer are out of Kelter, or out of tune, how can we pray? 1722in Connect. Col. Rec. (1872) VI. 335 Mending, cleansing and keeping in good kelter the firelocks left with his Honour. 1828Scott Jrnl. 20 May, The rest are in high kelter. 1875Contemp. Rev. XXV. 262 Some part of her internal economy is chronically out of kelter.
β1628W. Bradford in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1856) 4th Ser. III. 235 Ye very sight of one [sc. a gun] (though out of kilter) was a terrour unto them. 1681in New Eng. Mag. (1898) June 450/1 The seats some burned and others out of kilter. 1862Lowell Lett. I. 359, I must rest awhile. My brain is out of kilter. 1883J. Hawthorne Dust I. 16 There's something awkward here... A joint out of kilter perhaps. 1893Stevenson Let. C. Baxter 19 July in Lett. Fam. etc. II. 300, I..am miserably out of heart and out of kilter. 1938‘E. Queen’ Four of Hearts (1939) xii. 173 Jack's death sort of knocked you out of kilter. 1960M. Phillips in Analog Science Fact/Fiction Nov. 16/1 We've had some reports that some of the government machines are out of kilter, and I'd like you to go over them for me. 1968J. C. Holmes Nothing More to Declare 77 A deeply traditional nature thrown out of kilter, and thus enormously sensitive to anything uprooted. 1973Times 15 Oct. 17/3 There [sc. in N. Ireland], an allotment of 12 seats at Westminster is based upon electoral quotas wildly out of kilter with the quotas for England, Scotland, and Wales.
▪ III. ˈkelter3 north. dial.
[Origin obscure. Sheffield Gloss. gives kelt in same sense.]
Money, cash.
1807in Anderson Cumbld. Ball. 138 His billet a bad yen, his kelter aw duin. 1825Brockett, Kelter..also means money, cash. 1828Craven Dial., Kelter, a cant term for money. W. Yorksh. dial. He's a rich man, he is worth plenty of kelter.
▪ IV. ˈkelter4 dial.
[In dialect use from Durham to S. Lincolnsh.]
Rubbish; nonsense.
1847–78in Halliwell. 1870E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. II. 48 Lookin' at their tongues, feelin' of their pulses, or ony such like kelter. Ibid. III. 78 What can a man like you want wi' that kelter? |