The chief current uses, that is orderly, neat, etc. are on record only from the opening years of the eighteenth century, and earlier meanings are: timely, in good condition, well-favoured, of good character.
According to Salzman, tiles and stone slates were hung in the same manner, using wooden pegs driven into holes near the top edge and secured behind the laths (SZ1/233).
Ultimately ‘tilt’ has its origin in a word that meant to overthrow or overturn, made familiar to us by scenes of combat in which mounted knights sought to unhorse their opponents. In iron working it was the name given to a heavy hammer used in forges: this was fixed on a pivot and acted upon by a cam-wheel which alternately tilted the hammer up and then let it drop (OED).
Tire is probably an abbreviated spelling of ‘attire’ which had meanings such as ‘dress’, ‘outfit’ or ‘equipment’. By the fifteenth century it was being used of the metal rim of a wooden wheel.
A word which goes back to Old English with no real change in meaning. These were the tools which made the moving and handling of heated iron possible and in most smithies there would be a range of such implements: they were an essential part of ‘smithy gear’.
As a verb this was to cut off the top branches of a growing tree. It was often linked with ‘to lop’ and the severed branches were called lops and tops.
This was a material popular with cutlers for making the hafts of knives, and since it is mentioned in the earliest surviving inventories its use is likely to have a longer history.
A fine-grained variety of quartz or jasper which can be used to test the quality of gold and silver alloys. The determining factor is the colour of the mark made when they are rubbed on the stone.