# out of kilter
## English
### Etymology

From out of + kilter, kelter (“(good) condition, form, or order; fettle”). The latter word is of uncertain origin, but appears widely in a British dialect and also in the United States.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˌaʊt əv ˈkɪltə/
* (General American) IPA: /ˌaʊt əv ˈkɪltɚ/
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Hyphenation: out of kil‧ter

### Prepositional phrase

out of kilter
* (idiomatic) Askew, disturbed; not adjusted or working properly; out of order.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:out of order
    I stayed up late to watch a movie, and my entire sleeping schedule has been out of kilter ever since.
** 1762, [Susan Smythies], “Presents the Reader with a Prospect of the Sullens”, in The Stage-coach: Containing the Character of Mr. Manly, and the History of His Fellow Travellers, Dublin: Printed by Henry Saunders […], →OCLC, page 140:Aye, ſquire, that thing [a statue of Hercules] has been fixt in this ſpot I warrant you theſe hundred years; it was ſadly out of kilter when I came to the eſtate, but I got my neighbour the conſtable, who is a carpenter, to make him that right arm, and put the ſtaff into it, for I could not bear to ſee ſuch a clumſy log as he had in it before; [...]
** 1851 May 29, Sojourner Truth, reported by Frances D[ana] Gage, “Ohio [Reminiscences by Frances D. Gage. Sojourner Truth. [Ain’t I a Woman?]]”, in Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage, editors, History of Woman Suffrage. [...] In Three Volumes, volumes I (1848–1861), Rochester, N.Y., London: Susan B. Anthony; Charles Mann […], published 1887, →OCLC, page 116:Wall, chilern, whar dar is so much racket dar must be somethin' out o' kilter. I thik dat 'twixt de niggers of de Souf and de womin at de Norf, all talkin' 'bout rights, de white men will be in a fix pretty soon.
** 1890, Charles Erskine, chapter V, in Twenty Years before the Mast: […], Boston, Mass.: Published by the author, →OCLC, page 72:[T]hey are either round-shouldered, knock-kneed, bow-legged, or parrot-toed; some are also badly cross-eyed. It seems as if they can see two different ways at the same time. Jack says they are lop-sided and out of kilter altogether.
** 1909, Robert W[illiam] Service, “The Man from Eldorado”, in Ballads of a Cheechako, Toronto, Ont.: William Briggs, →OCLC, part I, stanza 2, page 71:[H]e lived on tinned tomatoes, beef embalmed and sourdough bread, / On rusty beans and bacon furred with mould; / His stomach’s out of kilter and his system full of lead, / But it's over, and his poke is full of gold.
** 1941 March 10, “An Airliner Cracks Up in Pine Woods near Atlanta and Seven People Die”, in Henry R[obinson] Luce, editor, Life, volume 10, number 10, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, photograph caption, page 27:Snowstorms often knock the Government's Salt Lake radio range out of kilter.
** 2018 June 17, Barney Ronay, “Mexico’s Hirving Lozano stuns world champions Germany for brilliant win”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 5 August 2019:This was a champion team out of kilter, stung by what was arguably an act of disrespect to their opponents, a failure to appreciate their threat and the fine planning of Carlos Osorio, and never really able to regain its balance.

#### Usage notes

* The term is often preceded by throw, as in “an impact can throw the adjustment out of kilter”.

#### Alternative forms

* out of kelter

#### Related terms

* off-kilter

#### Translations
### References

* ↑ Joseph Wright, editor (1902), “KELTER, sb.$^1$ and v.$^1$”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume III (H–L), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 415, column 2.
* ↑ “kelter, kilter, n.$^2$”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1901; “kilter, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.