noun

1. either of a pair of poles, each with a footrest somewhere along its length, used for walking with the feet above the ground, as by children at play, by acrobats, etc.
2. any of a number of long posts or piles used to hold a building, etc. above the ground or out of the water
3. pl. stilts or stilt any of several shorebirds (family Recurvirostridae) with a long, slender bill, long legs, and three-toed feet; esp., the black-necked stilt (Himantopus mexicanus), living chiefly in marshes and ponds of temperate North America and N South America

Etymology: ME stilte, prob. < MLowG or MDu stelte, akin to Ger stelze: for base see still