kilter

[kil-ter] Origin

kil·ter

[kil-ter]
noun
1.
good condition; order: The engine was out of kilter.
2.
Poker. skeet2.

Origin:
1630–40; variant of dial. kelter < ?
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Kilter is always a great word to know.
So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
Collins
World English Dictionary
kilter or kelter (ˈkɪltə)
 
n
working order or alignment (esp in the phrases off kilter, out of kilter)
 
[C17: origin unknown]
 
kelter or kelter
 
n
 
[C17: origin unknown]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

kilter
in out of kilter (1628) variant of Eng. dial. kelter (1606) "good condition, order," of unknown origin.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

kilter

see out of kilter.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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