elt

• Rhymes: -ɛlt

From Middle English elten, a borrowing from Old Norse elta (“to chase, hunt, knead”), from Proto-Germanic *alatjaną (“to drive, force, move”), from Proto-Indo-European *ela-, *el(ʷ)-, *lā- (“to drive, move, go”). Cognate with Danish ælte (“to knead”), Swedish älta (“to dwell upon, brood, stir, knead”), Norwegian elte (“to knead”), Norwegian elta (“to pursue, plod”), Icelandic elta (“to chase”).

elt (third-person singular simple present elts, present participle elting, simple past and past participle elted)

1. (transitive, Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To injure (anything) by rough handling; handle roughly.
2. (transitive, Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To begrime; soil with mud; daub; smear.
3. (transitive, Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To work persistently or laboriously; be occupied in working (e.g. in the earth, rake among dirt, etc.).
4. (transitive, Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To meddle; interfere.
5. (transitive, Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To knead dough; stir dough previously kneaded to a proper consistency before baking.
6. (intransitive, Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To become soft; become moist, as damp earth.

Shortening.

elt (plural elts)

1. (mathematics, computing) Abbreviation of element.

• -let, ETL, LTE, TEL, TLE, Tel., let, tel

elt

1. imperative of elte