out of kilter

Language: en

Meaning: (idiomatic)Askew,disturbed; notadjustedorworkingproperly;out of order.Synonyms:seeThesaurus:out of orderI stayed up late to watch a movie, and my entire sleeping schedule has beenout of kilterever since.1762,[Susan Smythies], “Presents the Reader with a Prospect of the Sullens”, inThe Stage-coach: Containing the Character of Mr. Manly, and the History of His Fellow Travellers, Dublin: Printed by Henry Saunders[…],→OCLC,page140:Aye, ſquire, that thing [a statue ofHercules] has been fixt in this ſpot I warrant you theſe hundred years; it was ſadlyout of kilterwhen 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; [...]1851May 29,Sojourner Truth, reported byFrances D[ana] Gage, “Ohio [Reminiscences by Frances D. Gage. Sojourner Truth. [Ain’t I a Woman?]]”, inElizabeth Cady Stanton,Susan B. Anthony,Matilda Joslyn Gage, editors,History of Woman Suffrage. [...] In Three Volumes, volumesI (1848–1861), Rochester, N.Y.; London: Susan B. Anthony; Charles Mann[…], published1887,→OCLC,page116: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, inTwenty Years before the Mast:[…], Boston, Mass.: Published by the author,→OCLC,page72:[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 andout of kilteraltogether.1909,Robert W[illiam] Service, “The Man from Eldorado”, inBallads of a Cheechako, Toronto, Ont.:William Briggs,→OCLC, part I, stanza 2,page71:[H]e lived on tinned tomatoes, beef embalmed and sourdough bread, / On rusty beans and bacon furred with mould; / His stomach’sout of kilterand his system full of lead, / But it's over, and his poke is full of gold.1941March 10, “An Airliner Cracks Up in Pine Woods near Atlanta and Seven People Die”, inHenry R[obinson] Luce, editor,Life, volume10, number10, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.:Time Inc.,→ISSN,→OCLC, photograph caption,page27:Snowstorms often knock the Government's Salt Lake radio rangeout of kilter.2018June 17,Barney Ronay, “Mexico’sHirving Lozanostuns world champions Germany for brilliant win”, inKatharine Viner, editor,The Guardian‎[1], London:Guardian News & Media,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe originalon5 August 2019:This was a champion teamout 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.

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