[f. TILT sb.1 (or short for tilted) + BOAT sb.] A large rowing boat having a tilt or awning, formerly used on the Thames, esp. as a passenger boat between London and Gravesend.
1463. Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.), 251. For a tylt bote to London … iiij. d.
1576. in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Eliz. (1908), 268. For the Cariadge of stuff to Hampton Court … by Tilt bote.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 17. A vessel … like in proportion to a Graves-end tilt-boate.
1737. Act 10 Geo. II., c. 31 § 8. It shall not be lawful for any person … who shall … navigate any Tilt-boat … to receive … or carry … at one and the same Time, any more than thirty-seven Passengers.
1764. Low Life (ed. 3), 3. Waiting … to go in the Tilt-Boat to Gravesend.
1859. Sala, Tw. round Clock (1861), 11. Now … we go to Gravesend by the steamer, instead of the tilt-boat.
