kelter

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English

Etymology

Of uncertain origin, but appears widely in British dialects[1] and also in the United States.[2]

Pronunciation

  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 331: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈkɛl.tə/
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 331: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈkɛl.tɚ/
  • Rhymes: -ɛltə(ɹ)
  • Hyphenation: kel‧ter

Noun

kelter (countable and uncountable, plural kelters)

  1. (British dialectal, US, dated, chiefly in the negative) (Good) condition, form, or order; fettle.
    • 1851, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, Personal Memoirs Of A Residence Of Thirty Years With The Indian Tribes On The American Frontiers‎[1]:
      Fiscal--Something has been out of kelter at Washington these two years with regard to the rigid application of appropriations, at least in the Indian Department.
    • 1867, William Henry Smyth, The Sailor's Word-Book‎[2]:
      --All over, resemblance to a particular object, as a ship in bad kelter: "she's a privateer all over."
    • 1910, Alexander Irvine, From the Bottom Up‎[3]:
      It was intimated to me that such "frivolousness" was out of kelter with the profession of a Christian.
  2. (countable, card games) A hand of playing cards which is useless; a dead man's hand.

Alternative forms

Derived terms

References

  1. ^ Joseph Wright, editor (1902), “KELTER, sb.1 and v.1”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume III (H–L), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 415, column 2.
  2. ^ “kelter, kilter, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1901; “kilter, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
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