[ noun ] a knee-length pleated tartan skirt worn by men as part of the traditional dress in the Highlands of northern Scotland <noun.artifact>
Kilt \Kilt\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Kilted}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Kilting}.] To tuck up; to truss up, as the clothes. [Scot.] --Sir W. Scott.
Kilt \Kilt\, p. p. from {Kill}. [Obs.] --Spenser.
Kilt \Kilt\, n. [OGael. cealt clothes, or rather perh. fr. Dan. kilte op to truss, tie up, tuck up.] A kind of short petticoat, reaching from the waist to the knees, worn in the Highlands of Scotland by men, and in the Lowlands by young boys; a filibeg. [Written also {kelt}.]
General Sir Peter Graham, colonel of the Gordons, was rumoured to have threatened to fall on his sword if the Gordons lost the kilt.
He refers, for example, to traditions such as the tartan kilt, an 18th century English invention which is now ubiquitous shorthand for Scotland. Such traditions may be invented but they have also been successful.