Forms: (4 AF. teiler), 5 telor, tiler, 6 tyller, -our, 6–7 tillar, 6– tiller. [a. OF. telier (a. 1200 in Godef.), tellier, in sense 1; orig. a weaver’s beam (telier des tisserands, Godef.), med.L. tēlārium, f. L. tēla web: see -ARY1.]
† 1. Archery, etc. In a cross-bow: The wooden beam which is grooved for reception of the arrow, or drilled for the bolt or quarrel; the stock. Obs.
[1353. Mag. Rot. 27 Edw. III., in Archæol. Jrnl. (1862), XIX. 72. In … xl. lignis vocatis cost’ pro balistis inde faciendis, xl. lignis pro telar’ balistarum … cxx. clavis vocatis somernailes pro telar’.
1361. Indenture 35 Edw. III., ibid. (1854), XI. 385. xxiiij. arc pur arblastes de corn saunz teilers.]
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, IV. 1370. He … hent a bowe þat passingly was stronge, And with an arwe to his tiler longe.
14[?]. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 615/44. Tenorcula, a telor of an arblast.
c. 1532. Du Wes, Introd. Fr., in Palsgr., 914. Tyller of a crosbowe, cormier.
1544. in Lett. & Pap. Hen. VIII. (1905), XIX. II. 405. Oon tyllour, oon paire of chekes, and oon bender,… oon crossbowe case and oon dosen di of crossbowe stringes.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., 221. An expert … workeman … cunningly bestoweth in the hollow passage of the beame or tiller [of a balista] a shaft of wood.
1611. Cotgr., Arbrier, the Tillar of a Crosse-bow.
a. 1618. Sylvester, Woodman’s Bear, xliv. Eyes that arme Love’s Arches tillar.
† b. A stock or shaft fixed to a long-bow to admit of its being used as a cross-bow, for greater convenience or precision of aim. Obs.
1590. Barwick, Briefe Disc., 11. Whether a Cros-bowe, or a Long-bowe in a Tyller, shoot more certainly.
1611. Beaum. & Fl., Philaster, II. ii. Use exercise, and keep a Sparrowhawk, you can shoot in a Tiller.
† c. transf. A bow fitted with a tiller. Obs.
1572. J. Jones, Bathes Buckstone, 12. Rather wyth longe Bowe, than wyth Tyller, Stone bowe or Crosse bowe.
1598. Florio, Balista,… a crosse bow, a stock-bow or tillar.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Country Farme, 508. Neither is the crossebow so daungerous, whether it be the tiller, or the bullet.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. xvi. (Roxb.), 77/1. The Tiller hath the Bow of wood either Ash or Yew whose string is held vp (when … drawne) by a wooden Nutt as it is called, and a handle to let it off.
d. (See quot. 1801.)
1545. [app. presupposed in TILLERING vbl. sb.1].
1801. T. Roberts, Eng. Bowman, 295. Tiller, an instrument made of a straight piece of wood, with a notch at the end, and notches on the upper side; in which a bow is placed and drawn, to try how it bends.
† e. A stock or shaft in the earliest forms of hand-gun or cannon. Obs.
[1353. Mag. Rot. 27 Edw. III., in Archæol. Jrnl. (1862), XIX. 74. Pro … portagio x. gunn’ cum telar’.
1885. Dillon, Fairholt’s Costume, II. Gloss., Telar, the stock of a hand gun (with above reference).]
2. Naut. A horizontal bar or beam attached to the rudder-head, acting as a lever by means of which the rudder is moved in the act of steering.
(Not in Fr., where the tiller is ‘barre du gouvernail.’)
a. 1625. Nomenclator Navalis, s.v. (Harl. MS. 2301). The Helme and Tiller is all one … only the word Tiller is properlie used for that which we steere the Bote by.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., ii. 12. The Tiller is a strong peece of wood made fast to the Rudder … whereby the Rudder is so turned to and fro as the Helmesman pleaseth.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., I. Tiller, the very same with the Helm of a Ship: It is most properly used in a Boat where that which would be the Helm in a Ship, is called the Tiller.
1743. Bulkeley & Cummins, Voy. S. Seas, 17. The Ship struck a second Time, which broke the Head of the Tiller.
1836. Marryat, Midsh. Easy, xix. Easy wrested the tiller from Gascoigne’s hand.
1875. Helps, Soc. Press., vi. 76. You are either … a slave at the oar, or a serf at the tiller.
1905. A. C. Benson, Upton Lett. (1906), 39. Not fit … to take the tiller.
b. Also loosely, the steering-gear of a rowing-boat; cf. tiller-line, -rope in 4.
3. In various technical uses: see quots.
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), A Thiefe, Wks. II. 119/2. As once a Windmill (out of breath) lack’d winde A fellow brought foure bushels then to grinde, And hearing neither noyse of knap or tiller, Laid downe his corne, and went to seeke the miller.
1789. Brand, Hist. Newcastle, I. 687, note. A piece of wood, called a tiller, is … applied to one wheel, and pressed thereon.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Tiller, the handle of a spade.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Tiller. 1. A transverse handle at the upper end of a pit saw.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Tiller. See Brace-head.
4. attrib. and Comb.: † tiller-bow = sense 1 c; tiller-chain, a chain answering the same purpose as a tiller-rope; on steamships, used in conjunction with steel-wire to connect the rudder with the steam steering-gear; tiller-head, the extremity of the tiller to which are secured the two ends of the tiller-rope or -chain; tiller-lines, two lines or ropes fastened each to one arm of the tiller-yoke in a boat; also called yoke-lines, yoke-, tiller-ropes; tiller-post, the upper part of the rudder-stock; tiller-rope, (a) the rope (now usually a chain) connecting the tiller-head with the drum or barrel of a ship’s steering-gear; (b) a rope leading from the tiller-head to each side of the deck, to assist in steering in rough weather; (c) pl. = tiller-lines; tiller-steerage, -steering, the arrangement for steering a motor-car by means of a lever (as distinct from wheel-steerage); tiller-wheel, a wheel by which a rudder is actuated, a steering wheel; tiller-yoke, a yoke fixed on the rudder-head of a boat and serving as a tiller.
1583. W. M., Remembr., in Roberts, Eng. Bowman (1801), 261. Every one bearing a *tiller-bow or cross-bow, and broad arrows.
1590. Barwick, Disc. Weapons, 11. He … then can either loose Long-bowe, Tiller-bowe, or Cros-bowe.
1591. Percival, Span. Dict., Zebretana, a tiller bowe, balistæ genus.
1841. R. H. Dana, Seaman’s Man., Dict., s.v. Tiller-ropes, Ropes leading from the *tiller-head round the barrel of the wheel.
1905. Westm. Gaz., 3 Jan., 4/2. With one hand on the *tiller-lever he can perform all the functions of driver and steersman at once.
1889. J. K. Jerome, Three Men in Boat, 76. Harris at the sculls and I at the *tiller-lines.
1890. Daily News, 9 Jan., 6/3. Her *tiller post had been carried away, and other damage done to the stern.
1745. P. Thomas, Jrnl. Anson’s Voy., 148. Our old *Tiller-Rope being much worn, we unreev’d it, and reev’d a new one.
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, v. Bell pulled the white tiller-ropes over her shoulder.
