A tiller is a long handle attached to a boat's rudder that a sailor uses to steer. When you push the tiller left, the boat turns right. When you pull it right, the boat turns left. This backwards motion takes practice to master, but once sailors get used to it, steering with a tiller becomes second nature.

Small sailboats and many wooden boats use tillers instead of steering wheels. The tiller connects directly to the rudder (the flat piece underwater that makes the boat turn), so you can feel the water's resistance and the boat's movement through your hands. Many sailors prefer this direct connection because it helps them sense exactly what their boat is doing.

The word tiller can also mean a machine that breaks up and turns over soil to prepare it for planting. A gardener might use a small tiller to work the dirt in a vegetable garden, while farmers use larger tillers pulled by tractors to prepare entire fields. Both kinds of tillers share something in common: they're tools that let you control and direct something important, whether it's the course of a boat or the readiness of the earth for growing.