<B>tightrope, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a rope or cable stretched tight and raised above the ground, on which acrobats perform. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a difficult or dangerous situation. <BR> <I>Ex. The middle-aged man in a new career is on a tightrope between asking too many questions and asking too few (London Times).</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> of, having to do with, or done on a tightrope. <BR><I>expr. <B>walk a tightrope,</B> </I>to maneuver in a difficult or dangerous situation. <BR> <I>Ex. The West has walked a tightrope on Trieste since then, trying to keep both Italy's and Yugoslavia's friendship and say nothing to alienate either (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="tights">
<B>tights, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> See under <B>tight.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="tightsqueeze">
<B>tight squeeze,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a difficult situation; narrow escape. </DL>
<A NAME="tightwad">
<B>tightwad, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Slang.) a stingy person; skinflint. <BR> <I>Ex. I don't want to be a tightwad but after all, a dollar is a dollar (Sinclair Lewis).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="tightwire">
<B>tightwire, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a wire tightrope. <BR> <I>Ex. A thoroughly trained circus performer, he can walk the tightwire or the slack wire (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="tiglicacid">
<B>tiglic acid,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a poisonous, unsaturated liquid or crystalline acid obtained from croton oil, used in medicine. </DL>
<A NAME="tiglon">
<B>tiglon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an offspring of a tiger and a lioness. </DL>
<A NAME="tigon">
<B>tigon, </B>noun. <B>=tiglon.</B></DL>
<A NAME="tigre">
<B>Tigre, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> one of the two Semitic languages spoken in the north of Ethiopia. The other is Tigrinya. </DL>
<B>tigrine, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> like a tiger, especially in coloring or marking. </DL>
<A NAME="tigrinya">
<B>Tigrinya, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a Semitic language spoken in the north of Ethiopia. </DL>
<A NAME="tigrish">
<B>tigrish, </B>adjective. <B>=tigerish.</B></DL>
<A NAME="tike">
<B>tike, </B>noun. <B>=tyke.</B></DL>
<A NAME="tiki">
<B>tiki, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a Polynesian deity, regarded as the creator of man. <DD><B> 2. </B>an image of it in wood or stone. </DL>
<A NAME="til">
<B>til</B> (1), noun. <B>=sesame.</B></DL>
<A NAME="til">
<B>til</B> (2), noun. <B>=tilde.</B></DL>
<A NAME="tilapia">
<B>tilapia, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any of a genus of freshwater cichlid fishes important as a source of food in Africa and Asia. </DL>
<A NAME="tilbury">
<B>tilbury, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a light, two-wheeled carriage without a top, fashionable in the early 1800's. </DL>
<A NAME="tilde">
<B>tilde, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a diacritical mark used over <I>n</I> in Spanish when it is pronounced <I>ny.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the same mark, used over certain Portuguese vowels to indicate that they are nasal. The Portuguese name for this mark is <I>til.</I> . </DL>
<A NAME="tile">
<B>tile, </B>noun, verb, <B>tiled,</B> <B>tiling.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>a thin piece of baked clay, often glazed and decorated, used for covering roofs, paving floors, lining walls, and ornamenting. <DD><B> b. </B>any one of various similar thin pieces of plastic, rubber, linoleum, or cement, used for similar purposes. <DD><B> 2. </B>any thin, flat playing piece used in various games, such as mah-jongg and Scrabble. <DD><B> 3. </B>a baked clay pipe for draining lands and roads. <DD><B> 4. </B>tiles; tiling. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Informal.) a stiff hat; high silk hat. <BR> <I>Ex. Afore the brim went, it was a very handsome tile (Dickens).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to put tiles on or in; build, cover, or decorate with tiles. <BR> <I>Ex. to tile a bathroom floor.</I> adj. <B>tilelike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="tilefish">
<B>tilefish, </B>noun, pl. <B>-fishes</B> or (collectively) <B>-fish.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a large, colorful marine food fish of northern waters. The upper part of its side is bluish or olive-green dotted with small yellow spots, blending into yellowish or rose on the lower part. </DL>
<A NAME="tiler">
<B>tiler, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who makes or lays tiles. </DL>
<A NAME="tilework">
<B>tilework, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> colored tiles with geometric or arabesque designs, used especially in architecture to decorate mosque walls and domes. </DL>
<A NAME="tiliaceous">
<B>tiliaceous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> belonging to the basswood family of plants. </DL>
<A NAME="tiling">
<B>tiling, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>tiles collectively. <DD><B> 2. </B>the work of covering with or laying tiles. <DD><B> 3. </B>anything consisting of or covered with tiles. </DL>
<A NAME="till">
<B>till</B> (1), preposition, conjunction.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>prep. </I> <B>1. </B>up to the time of; before; until. <BR> <I>Ex. The child played till eight.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Especially Scottish.) to or unto; as far as. <DD><I>conj. </I> up to the time when; until. <BR> <I>Ex. Walk till you come to a white house.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="till">
<B>till</B> (2), transitive verb, intransitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to cultivate (land), as by plowing, harrowing, and manuring; cultivate; plow. <BR> <I>Ex. Farmers till the land before planting.</I> adj. <B>tillable.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="till">
<B>till</B> (3), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a small drawer for money, usually under or behind a counter. <BR> <I>Ex. A cash register is sometimes called a till.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Informal.) any place or thing that contains or stores money. <BR> <I>Ex. Do we have enough in the till for a vacation?</I> (SYN) coffer. </DL>
<A NAME="till">
<B>till</B> (4), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>glacial drift or deposit of stiff clay, gravel, sand, and boulders. <DD><B> 2. </B>(British.) a stiff clay. </DL>
<A NAME="tillage">
<B>tillage, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the cultivation of land. (SYN) agriculture, husbandry. <DD><B> 2. </B>the fact or condition of being tilled. <DD><B> 3a. </B>tilled or plowed land. <DD><B> b. </B>crops growing on it. </DL>
<A NAME="tillandsia">
<B>tillandsia, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a large group of herbaceous plants of the pineapple family, found in tropical and subtropical America, most of which grow on trees for support, such as the Spanish moss. </DL>
<A NAME="tiller">
<B>tiller</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a bar or handle at the stern used to turn the rudder in steering a boat. </DL>
<A NAME="tiller">
<B>tiller</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who tills land; farmer. </DL>
<A NAME="tiller">
<B>tiller</B> (3), noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>(Dialect.) a shoot that springs from the root or base of the original stalk. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Dialect.) a young tree; sapling. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to sprout new shoots from the root or base of the original stalk, as corn and certain other plants do. </DL>
<A NAME="tillite">
<B>tillite, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a sedimentary rock composed of glacial till compacted into hard rock. </DL>
<A NAME="tillyseed">
<B>tilly seed,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the seed of the croton. </DL>
<A NAME="tilt">
<B>tilt</B> (1), verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to cause to slope or slant; lean; tip. <BR> <I>Ex. You tilt your head forward when you bow. You tilt your cup when you drink.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to point or thrust (a lance). <DD><B> 3. </B>to rush at; charge. <DD><B> 4. </B>to forge or hammer with a heavy pivoted hammer. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to be tilted; slope; slant; lean; tip. <BR> <I>Ex. This table tilts.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to rush, charge, or fight with lances; joust. Knights used to tilt on horseback. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>the act of tilting. <BR> <I>Ex. One small tilt upset the lamp.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>the condition of being tilted; sloping position; slope; slant. <BR> <I>Ex. His hat had a smart tilt. The chair stood at a tilt.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>in the Middle Ages: <DD><B> a. </B>a fight between two men on horseback with lances, who charged at each other and tried to knock each other off the horse; joust. <DD><B> b. </B>the exercise of riding with a lance or the like at a mark, such as the quintain. <DD><B> 3. </B>a sport in which opponents stand on a canoe or log and try to knock each other off with wooden poles. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) <DD><B> a. </B>a sharp thrust, as if with a weapon. <BR> <I>Ex. He used the occasion for sprightly tilts at his Labour and Liberal opponents (Manchester Guardian Weekly).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a dispute or quarrel. <BR> <I>Ex. The two writers had a number of tilts in print.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B><B>=seesaw.</B> <DD><B> 6. </B><B>=tilt hammer.</B> <BR><I>expr. <B>at full</B> (or <B>high</B>) <B>tilt,</B> </I>at full speed or power. <BR> <I>Ex. The park's artificial waterfall ... was cascading at full tilt (New Yorker).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>tilt at,</B> </I>to attack; fight; protest against. <BR> <I>Ex. I'm too discreet To run amuck and tilt at all I meet (Alexander Pope).</I> adj. <B>tiltable.</B> noun <B>tilter.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="tilt">
<B>tilt</B> (2), noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> an awning or canopy, as over a boat or wagon. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to cover with a tilt or tilts. </DL>
<A NAME="tiltboard">
<B>tiltboard, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an apparatus used especially in the study of kinesthetic senses, consisting of a horizontal board, pivoted at the center upon a transverse axis in such a way that the subject, lying at full length upon it, may be tilted up or down; tilt table. </DL>
<A NAME="tiltcart">
<B>tilt cart,</B> <B>=tipcart.</B></DL>
<A NAME="tilth">
<B>tilth, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the condition of being tilled. <BR> <I>Ex. a garden in bad tilth, to put a field into good tilth.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the cultivation of land; tillage. <DD><B> 3. </B>tilled land. <DD><B> 4. </B>the condition of soil for tilling. </DL>
<A NAME="tilthammer">
<B>tilt hammer,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a heavy hammer used especially in forging, alternately tilted up and allowed to drop. </DL>
<A NAME="tiltmeter">
<B>tiltmeter, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a clinometer used by seismologists to detect and measure a tilt in the earth's surface. </DL>
<A NAME="tiltroof">
<B>tilt roof,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a roof with a generally semicircular section inside and out, like a canopy over a wagon. </DL>
