Quilt
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A bed covering consisting of two layers of fabric stitched together, with insulation between, often having a decorative design.
"My grandmother is going to sew a quilt."
- 2 bedding made of two layers of cloth filled with stuffing and stitched together wordnet
- 3 A roll of material with sound-absorbing properties, used in soundproofing.
- 4 A quilted skirt worn by women.
- 5 Something composed of a variety of stitched-together parts; a patchwork. figuratively
"Her humor was as bawdy as ever, and evenly placed throughout. Early on […] she alternated alternated jokes and stanzas, providing a wonderful quilt of her musical and story-telling talents."
- 1 To construct a quilt.
- 2 create by stitching together wordnet
- 3 To construct something, such as clothing, using the same technique.
"Get up, get up for shame, the blooming morne / Upon her wings presents the god unshorne. / See how Aurora throwes her faire / Fresh-quilted colours through the aire; / Get up, sweet slug-a-bed, and see / The dew bespangling herbe and tree."
- 4 stitch or sew together wordnet
- 5 To beat or thrash. UK, obsolete, slang
"I am glad, said Mr. Slick, that cussed critter, that schoolmaster, hasn't yet woke up. I'm most afeerd if he had aturned out afore we started, I should have quilted him, for that talk of his last night sticks in my crop considerable hard."
Example
More examples"That quilt is really quite a piece of work with all its fine craftsmanship."
Etymology
From Middle English quilte, quylte, from Anglo-Norman quilte and Old French coilte, cuilte (compare French couette), from Latin culcita. Doublet of quoit.
Related phrases
More for "quilt"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.