​KILT, properly the short loose skirt or petticoat, reaching to the knees and usually made of tartan, forming part of the dress of a Scottish Highlander (see Costume). The word means that which is “girded or tucked up,” and is apparently of Scandinavian origin, cf. Danish kilte, to tuck up. The early kilt was not a separate garment but was merely the lower part of the plaid, in which the Highlander wrapped himself, hanging down in folds below the belt.