Tilting at windmills 1988, which contained the song "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
The Tilted Cross of words like red-back spiders stirring in a thick web in a dark corner." The Tilted Cross The Tilted Cross (1961) is a novel by Australian author Hal Porter. The novel is set in Hobart, Tasmania, in 1845-46. It follows the last few months in the life of Judas Griffin Vaneleigh, a transported forger and suspected poisoner. A reviewer in "The Canberra Times" was not as enthusiastic as some of his colleagues: "Porter's baroque style gives his wordage full play. He spins his words like a thick spider's web and in the depths of the web he sets an evil