Tilting at windmills Tilting at windmills Tilting at windmills is an English idiom that means attacking imaginary enemies. The expression is derived from the 1605 novel "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes, and the word "tilt" in this context comes from jousting. The phrase is sometimes used to describe either confrontations where adversaries are incorrectly perceived, or courses of action that are based on misinterpreted or misapplied heroic, romantic, or idealistic justifications. It may also connote an importune, unfounded, and vain effort against adversaries real or imagined for a vain goal. The phrase comes from an episode in the Cervantes novel wherein protagonist
Tilted block faulting crust material underneath the fault complex. This fault system can shear the footwall, creating domal mountain ranges, which on a large scale can develop into formations known as metamorphic core complexes. If extension at the surface exceeds about 50 percent, decompression melting may permit magmas to form; these will deform the footwall, resulting in a complex associated with intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks. Rocks above the detachment fault form normal faults and, at the same time, shear in a "layer-parallel" motion. This action creates a series of fault blocks, which are progressively tilted as the detachment fault progresses. The fracturing