tilthn.
/tɪlθ/, U.S. /tɪlθ/ΚΠ
a1023 Wulfstan Homilies x. 72 Se ðe wære scaðjende, weorðe se tiligende on rihtlicre tilðe.
2.
a. esp. Labour or work in the cultivation of the soil; tillage, agricultural work, husbandry. (In full in Old English eorþtilþ.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > [noun]
tiltha1100
husbandrya1398
agriculture?1440
tillagea1538
tilture1573
farming1642
gainery1670
farmery1759
terraculture1847
ag1905
c1000 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 99 Eorþtilþ, agricultura.]
a1100 Gerefa in Anglia (1886) 9 259 Se scadwis gerefa sceal witan ælcre tilðan timan ðe to tune belimpð.
a1200 Moral Ode 57 Vre swinc and ure tilþe is ofte iwoned to swinden.
a1380 Poems fr. Vernon MS. l. 269 Ȝif þou wolt knowe þe tilþe of eorþe, Þat þe fayle corn none, Go and red virgiles bok.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 3504 He delt als wit tilth o corn.
c1480 (a1400) St. Placidus 450 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 82 Telemen left þe tiltht..& folouyt hym.
a1500 Walter of Henley's Husbandry (Sloane) (1890) 44 Comaunde your bayle straytly to kepe þis maner off gydynge in telthe.
1580 T. Tusser Fiue Hundred Pointes Good Husbandrie (new ed.) f. 6 Tilth well done, in season due.
1660 R. Sharrock Hist. Propagation & Improvem. Veg. 98 After four years tilth, lay down your land.
1799 J. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Perth 12 Clay..when dried by a long tract of weather, without rain..becomes so hard..as to lose the benefit of any tilth formerly given it by frequent ploughings.
1870 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (ed. 2) I. App. 709 To betake himself to the tilth of the ground.
b. figurative. The cultivation of knowledge, morality, religion, the mind, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > humanistic studies > [noun] > cultivation of the mind
tiltha1250
culture?1510
tillage1555
cultivation1622
culturalization1918
a1250 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Nero) (1952) 34 Cultus iusticie silencium. þe tilðe [?c1225 Cleo. tilunge] of rihtwisnesse þet is. silence.
?1550 J. Bale Apol. agaynste Papyst Pref. 11 In the ydell slouthfulnesse of the churche whan the profytable tylthe of Christe was not regarded.
1810 G. Crabbe Borough xxi. 294 Numbers there were defil'd by Mire and Filth, Whom he recover'd by his goodly Tilth.
1847 T. De Quincey Schlosser's Lit. Hist. in Tait's Edinb. Mag. Oct. 693/1 What a tilth of intellectual lava must [Burke] have interfused amongst the refuse and scoria of such mouldering party rubbish.
c. (with plural) An act of tilling; a ploughing, harrowing, or other agricultural operation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > [noun]
earth-tilthOE
earth-tillingOE
tilling?c1225
delving1377
laboura1393
land-tillingc1420
culturec1450
tilthing1495
labouring1523
manurea1547
manuring1550
digging1552
cultivation1553
tilth1565
manurance1572
agriculture1583
nithering1599
culturation1606
gainor1607
delvage1610
agricolation1623
gainage1625
cultivage1632
manurementa1639
groundwork1655
fieldwork1656
proscission1656
field labour1661
manuragea1670
subduing1776
management1799
subjugation1800
geopony1808
clodhopping1847
agriculturism1885
1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus at Nouo Agrum nouare, to vse the seconde tilth: to till the seconde time.
1649 W. Blith Eng. Improver xv. 83 The nature of the Land [will not be] changed with fewer Tilths.
1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry (1721) I. 76 They give their sowre Land a tilt.
1844 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 5 i. 5 The tilths being given at intervals of about one month.
d. The condition of being under cultivation or tillage; hence, (good or bad) condition (of land under tillage).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > land suitable for cultivation > [noun] > state of being cultivated
husbandry1398
tillage1488
tilth1488
culturea1538
tessel1657
1488–9 Act 4 Hen. VII c. 19 Leyeng to pasture londes which custumeably have ben used in tilthe.
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Brynge lande in due tempre, or tilthe, with dygging, and labour.
1674 N. Fairfax Treat. Bulk & Selvedge 132 The ground that was to be sown that year in as good tilt as in the other.
1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 538 It is..necessary that the soil should be reduced to a considerable degree of fineness, or what by writers on husbandry is termed tilth.
1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. Tilth, plight, condition, good or bad..; as, ‘The land's in sae bad a tilth, that we canna saw’.
1884 Times 20 June 4 Working ground into a clean tilth.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > crop or crops > [noun]
wastumc888
tiltha1100
estrea1300
madder-cropc1300
gainage1390
cropa1400
yieldingc1405
emblement1495
burden?1523
increase1535
field-ware1546
gather1555
esplees1598
husbandrya1616
glebe1660
warea1661
récolte1669
tilling1680
tillage1681
stuffa1687
growing1722
bearing1747
raccolta1748
the crops1789
plant1832
raising1857
cropping1861
a1100 Gerefa in Anglia (1886) 9 261 Fela tilða ham gæderian.
a1300 Cursor Mundi 1068 Vr louerd loked noght þar-till..O þe tilth þat he wit delt.
1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. xix. 430 God..Qui pluit super iustos & iniustos..And sent þe sonne to saue a cursed mannes tilthe [C. xxii. 434 tulthe, v.rr. tilþe, telþe], As bryȝte as to þe best man & to þe beste woman.
1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis II. 190 So that the tilthe is nyh forlorn, Which Crist sew ferst his oghne hond.
1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion xiii. 221 That cruell Bore..Whose tusks turn'd vp our Tilths.
1782 W. Cowper Hope in Poems 143 Banks cloath'd with flow'rs,..The yellow tilth, green meads.
4.
a. Land under cultivation, as distinguished from pasture, forest, or waste land; tilled or arable land; a piece of tilled land, a ploughed field.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > land suitable for cultivation > [noun] > broken land > arable or ploughed land
earthlandeOE
falloweOE
acreOE
hide and gaine1347
furrowc1380
teamlanda1387
tilthc1460
arablec1475
tilling land1488
flat1513
plough-tilth1516
ploughland1530
tillage1543
plough-ground1551
teamware1567
ploughing ground1625
ploughing land1674
prairie-breaking1845
plough1859
c1460 Oseney Reg. 133 Whereof xij. acris of londe lien in the North felde at Radawelle, that is to say, in þe telth þe which is i-called Brerefurlonge.
c1460 Oseney Reg. 134 Vppon Ramme dune, iij. telthis, þe which conteynen xij. acris.
c1480 (a1400) St. Placidus 326 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 78 Towne & tilth al mad wast.
a1577 G. Gascoigne Posies in Wks. (1587) 149 As men can clense the worthless weedes from fruitfull fallowed tilth.
1616 G. Markham tr. C. Estienne et al. Maison Rustique (rev. ed.) i. vi. 20 Lead forth your dung, compasse, or manure to your tilth or fallow field.
a1807 W. Wordsworth Prelude (1959) x. 366 From the Loire I parted, and through scenes Of vineyard, orchard, meadow-ground and tilth..Towards the fierce Metropolis turn'd my steps.
1881 Good Words 22 44/1 A ‘summer tilt’ is, or was, a field which was let alone for a season. Now-a-days people want crops off every acre, every year.
b. The prepared surface soil; the crumb, or depth of soil dug or cultivated.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > preparation of land or soil > [noun] > prepared surface
tilth1743
plug1947
1743 W. Ellis Suppl. to London & Country Brewer (ed. 2) 252 Where Turneps have been eaten off, the Barley..is..not esteemed so good, as that from off a pure Tilth.
1830 J. Baxter Libr. Agric. & Hort. Knowl. 249 The surface or tilth should be made as fine and level as possible.
1881 C. Whitehead Hops 45 The ground is kept stirred till the first week in July, by which time there should be a good tilth, or crumb, at least a foot deep.
Compounds
attributive and in other combinations, as tilth-ground, tilth-land, tilth-man.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > [noun] > tiller of soil
delverc888
tillman940
tiliec1000
acremanOE
earth-tilieOE
land-tiliec1275
tillerc1300
earth-tillera1325
diggerc1400
land-herd1490
earth-tilther1495
tilther1495
land-tiller?a1500
manurerc1500
tillsman1561
tilth-man1638
cultivator1661
1638 G. Markham Farewell to Husb. (ed. 4) Pref. The third or fourth part of al arable ground is lost in the fallow or tilth ground.
1657 J. Watts Scribe, Pharisee 92 It is called Tilth-land and a Wheat-field.
1657 T. Reeve God's Plea for Nineveh 235 A lamentable tilth-man, which doth plow and sow for others, and hath not..any crop of his own.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
tilthv.
Obsolete or rare.
transitive. To till, cultivate.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivate or till [verb (transitive)]
begoc890
workOE
tillc1200
exercise1382
dightc1400
labourc1400
manure1416
cultive?1483
tilth1496
culture1510
trim1517
dress1526
subdue1535
toil1552
use1558
farm1570
cultivate1588
tame1601
husbandize1625
culturate1631
to take in1845
1496 (c1410) Dives & Pauper (de Worde) i. xxii. 58/1 They..gyue them to tylthe the londe.
Derivatives
ˈtilthed adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > land suitable for cultivation > [adjective] > cultivated
wroughtOE
subact?1440
laboured1470
tilled1546
well-cultured1555
well-laboured1571
husbanded1578
toiled1578
well-husbanded1581
cultive1611
improved1617
cultivated1622
well-cultivated1650
manured1746
well-farmed1770
reduced1794
farmed1800
tillaged1854
tilthed1866
tame1887
the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > land suitable for cultivation > [adjective] > broken > arable > ploughed
drivena1225
eareda1300
fallow1530
ploughed1535
rift1635
subsoiled1840
bouted1864
tilthed1866
1866 J. B. Rose tr. Ovid Metamorphoses (1899) 113 I cast the viperous teeth in tilthèd ground.
1866 J. B. Rose tr. Ovid Metamorphoses (1899) 202 The husbandman beholds the unharnessed bull Fall in the tilthèd furrow.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > [noun] > tiller of soil
delverc888
tillman940
tiliec1000
acremanOE
earth-tilieOE
land-tiliec1275
tillerc1300
earth-tillera1325
diggerc1400
land-herd1490
earth-tilther1495
tilther1495
land-tiller?a1500
manurerc1500
tillsman1561
tilth-man1638
cultivator1661
1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xvii. clxxx The erthe tylthers [Bodl. MS. tiliers] & kepers of vynes.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > [noun]
earth-tilthOE
earth-tillingOE
tilling?c1225
delving1377
laboura1393
land-tillingc1420
culturec1450
tilthing1495
labouring1523
manurea1547
manuring1550
digging1552
cultivation1553
tilth1565
manurance1572
agriculture1583
nithering1599
culturation1606
gainor1607
delvage1610
agricolation1623
gainage1625
cultivage1632
manurementa1639
groundwork1655
fieldwork1656
proscission1656
field labour1661
manuragea1670
subduing1776
management1799
subjugation1800
geopony1808
clodhopping1847
agriculturism1885
1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. (W. de W.) xvii. cxiv. S j/2 The wyld cole growyth wythout tylthyng [Bodl. MS. teleinge].
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online December 2019).
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