'tilt' originates from Middle English, specifically the word 'tilten', where the root meant 'to thrust or push (often forward)'

'tilt' changed from the Middle English verb 'tilten' (and related forms) and eventually became the modern English word 'tilt' through gradual shortening and regularization in Early Modern English

Initially, it often meant 'to thrust or push (as in a jousting charge)', but over time it evolved into the dominant sense 'to cause to lean or to lean at an angle', with the jousting sense preserved mainly in historical contexts and idioms