From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishliltlilt /lɪlt/ noun [singular] APMSOUNDa pleasant pattern of rising and falling sound in someone’s voice or in music the lilt of a Scottish accent —lilting adjective a lilting melody
Examples from the Corpus
lilt• Joe was the stylist, throwing in literary references and lingering over their prose until it had a lilt.• Her voice had a lilt to it as if she were on the verge of laughter.• His voice has a racy fluency blended with the intuitive lilt of generations.• For one thing it is devoid of the relentless lilt and terminological tedium of the professional programme writer.• In Minnesota and states of the northern Midwest a Scandinavian lilt is apparent in the local accent.• Michelle spoke with a soothing Southern lilt.• Even if you have a tape recorder, the tone and the lilt of the voice can change what a phrase means.• Even this gesture, a mercenary movement, had about it the lilt of broken syllables.• At extremely fast tempos this lilt is lost and they even out as they would in a funk or fusion context.Origin lilt (1800-1900) lilt “to sing cheerfully or with a lilt” ((14-20 centuries)) 