tiller

til·ler

noun

The definition of a tiller is a person or machine that turns over soil for planting crops, a handle that turns the rudder of a boat, or a shoot growing from the base of a plant.

An example of a tiller is a vegetable farmer who uses a plow to turn over the soil in their field.
An example of a tiller is what a person uses to steer a boat.
An example of a tiller is a new offshoot growing at the bottom of a tree.

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"tiller." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 May 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/TILLER>.

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tiller. (n.d.). Retrieved May 18th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/TILLER

tiller

a bar or handle connected to a rudder, and used to turn it in steering a boat

Origin of tiller

Middle English tiler, stock of a crossbow from Old French telier, weaver's beam from Medieval Latin telarium from Classical Latin tela, web (see toil): naut. sense probably influenced, influence by Middle English tillen, to reach

a person or machine that tills the soil

a shoot growing from the base of the stem of a plant

Origin of tiller

from Old English telgor (extension of telga, a branch, bough, shoot)

to send forth tillers

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MLA Style

"tiller." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 May 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/TILLER>.

APA Style

tiller. (n.d.). Retrieved May 18th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/TILLER

tiller

noun

One that tills land: a tiller of soil.

noun

A lever used to turn a rudder and steer a boat.

Origin of tiller

Middle English tiler stock of a crossbow from Old French telier from Medieval Latin tēlārium weaver's beam from Latin tēla web, weaver's beam ; see teks- in Indo-European roots.

noun

A shoot, especially one that sprouts from the base of a grass or sedge.

intransitive verb

til·lered, til·ler·ing, til·lers

To send forth shoots from the base. Used of a plant.

Origin of tiller

Middle English tiller from Old English telgor

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"tiller." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 May 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/TILLER>.

APA Style

tiller. (n.d.). Retrieved May 18th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/TILLER

Noun

(plural tillers)

A person who tills; a farmer.
A machine that mechanically tills the soil.

Origin

From till +"Ž -er.

Noun

(plural tillers)

A shoot of a plant which springs from the root or bottom of the original stalk; a sapling; a sucker.

Verb

(third-person singular simple present tillers, present participle tillering, simple past and past participle tillered)

(intransitive) To put forth new shoots from the root or from around the bottom of the original stalk; stool.

Origin

From Middle English *tilÈer, *telÈer, from Old English telgor, telgra, telgre ("twig, branch, shoot") (also telga, telge (whence tillow)), from Proto-Germanic *telgÃ´, *telgÅn (“twig, branch"), from Proto-Indo-European *delgÊ°- (“to split, divide, cut, carve"). Cognate with Dutch telg (“descendant, scion, offshoot, shoot"), Dutch Low Saxon telge (“twig, branch"), German Zelge (“twig, branch, bough"), Swedish telning (“branch, scion, sapling"), Icelandic tÃ¡g (“willow-twig").

Noun

(plural tillers)

(archery) The stock; a beam on a crossbow carved to fit the arrow, or the point of balance in a longbow.
(nautical) A bar of iron or wood connected with the rudderhead and leadline, usually forward, in which the rudder is moved as desired by the tiller (FM 55-501).
(nautical) The handle of the rudder which the helmsman holds to steer the boat, a piece of wood or metal extending forward from the rudder over or through the transom. Generally attached at the top of the rudder.
A handle; a stalk.