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Glite Dictionary
tiltyard

tiltyard

1 9.9
A fenced area where knights ride and try to knock each other off horses with long poles
  • noun
  • /ˈtɪlˌjɑrd/
  • Archaic
: tiltyard
  • The annual festival featured reenactments in the historic tiltyard, showcasing the excitement of medieval jousting.

Examples

  • Visitors to the castle can explore the tiltyard where famous jousting matches were held.

  • Once a year, Barfoot will dress himself in the elegant and expensive clothing of a gentleman courtier and then will pay the full price for a seat at the Tiltyard on Accession Day.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The knights practiced their skills in the tiltyard before the grand tournament began.

Surface Forms

tiltyard singular
tiltyards plural

Morphology

tiltyard = tilt + yard (semi-transparent) = tilt + yard

The compound structure 'tilt' + 'yard' is clear, but 'tilt' meaning 'joust' is archaic/specialized and may not be known to many learners.

Etymology

Tiltyard comes from two simple parts: tilt, a word for the action in a joust that meant to 'lean' or 'charge', and yard, meaning 'enclosed area'. So a tiltyard is literally the 'yard' where knights 'tilt', which is why the word means a closed place for jousting.