stilt / stilt/ • n. 1. either of a pair of upright poles with supports for the feet enabling the user to walk at a distance above the ground. ∎  each of a set of posts or piles supporting a building above the ground. ∎  a small, flat, three-pointed support for ceramic ware in a kiln. 2. a long-billed wading bird (Himantopus and other genera, family Recurvirostridae) with predominantly black and white plumage and long slender reddish legs.PHRASES: on stilts1. supported by stilts. 2. (of language) bombastic or stilted: he is talking nonsense on stilts, and he knows it.

stilt (dial.) crutch XIV; †handle of a plough XIV; each of a pair of poles with brackets raising a walker's feet above the ground XV; post or pile on which a building is raised XVII. ME. stilte, corr. immed. to LG., Flem. stilte, Norw. stilta :- Gmc. *stiltjōn; rel. to MLG., MDu. stelte (Du. stelt), OHG. stelza (G. stelze):- *steltōn, and Sw. stylta, Da. stylte :- *stultjōn.
Hence stilt vb. elevate artificially XVII (pp. stilted in the sense ‘artificially or affectedly elevated’ XIX).

Stilt See RECURVIROSTRIDAE.