Lilt \Lilt\, v. t. To utter with spirit, animation, or gayety; to sing with spirit and liveliness.
A classic lecture, rich in sentiment, With scraps of thundrous epic lilted out By violet-hooded doctors. --Tennyson.
Lilt \Lilt\, n. 1. Animated, brisk motion; spirited rhythm; sprightliness.
The movement, the lilt, and the subtle charm of the verse. --F. Harrison.
2. A lively song or dance; a cheerful tune.
The housewife went about her work, or spun at her wheel, with a lilt upon her lips. --J. C. Shairp.
Lilt \Lilt\ (l[i^]lt), v. i. [Cf. Norw. lilla, lirla, to sing in a high tone.] 1. To do anything with animation and quickness, as to skip, fly, or hop. [Prov. Eng.] --Wordsworth.
2. To sing cheerfully. [Scot.]
He played the Mazurka so searchingly as almost to forget its essential lilt.
The opening was lovely: a pianissimo thrill in the air, unhurried eloquence in the first brass phrases. On the other hand - doubts set in with the second subject, which arrived without a trace of its natural Austrian lilt.