- 1
Kilter is the proper working state of a thing — when it is running as it should. Though actually, people almost never say kilter by itself. You will hear it in two set phrases: out of kilter and off kilter. Both mean not working as well as usual: a bit wrong, a bit uneven. A machine can be out of kilter, and so can a plan, a sleep pattern, or a person's mood. It is informal but not slang; you can use it about serious things. You will rarely hear in kilter, even though the logic is there.
（正常）狀況、步調。幾乎只出現在 out of kilter / off kilter：不對勁、失常、狀況不佳
組成A variant of an old dialect word kelter, meaning good condition or order. Where kelter itself came from is unknown. Some writers have wondered whether it ties to an old verb kilt, 'to tuck up skirts', or to a Scots word kilt meaning 'the knack, the right way', but that is only a possibility. In the 1800s kelter was the commoner British form; kilter was the commoner American form, and kilter has since won out in all kinds of English.
原始詞典資料2 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
kilternoun詞源 1/ˈkɪltə/
- 1
Chiefly in out of kilter: (good) condition, form, or order; fettle.
- not in kilter
- [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.
kilternoun詞源 2/ˈkɪltə/
- 1
card-gamesgamespokerA hand of playing cards which is useless.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。