A tiller or till is a lever attached to a rudder post (American terminology) or rudder stock (English terminology) of a boat that provides leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder. The tiller can be used by the helmsman directly pulling or pushing it, but it may also be moved remotely using tiller lines or a ship's wheel.

Rapid or excessive movement of the tiller results in an increase in drag and will result in braking or slowing the boat. In steering a boat, the tiller is always moved in the direction opposite of which the bow of the boat is to move. If the tiller is moved to port side (left), the bow will turn to starboard (right). If the tiller is moved to starboard (right), the bow will turn port (left). Sailing students often learn the alliterative phrase "Tiller Towards Trouble" to remind them of how to steer.

Tiller orders

Until the current international standards were applied in the 1930s, it was common for steering orders on ships to be given as "Tiller Orders", which dictated to which side of the vessel the tiller was to be moved. Since the tiller is forward of the rudder's pivot point, and the rudder aft of it, the tiller's movement is reversed at the rudder, giving the impression that orders were given "the wrong way round". For example, to turn a ship to port (its left side), the helmsman would be given the order "starboard helm" or "x degrees starboard". The ship's tiller was then moved to starboard, turning the rudder to the vessel's port side, producing a turn to port. The opposite convention applied in France (where tribord—starboard—meant turn to starboard), but Austria and Italy kept to the English system. There was no standardization in vessels from Scandinavian countries, where the practice varied from ship to ship. Most French vessels with steering wheels had their steering chains reversed and when under the command of a British pilot this could result in confusion.

Tiller (foaled 14 April 1974) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Racing mainly on turf he won sixteen of his forty races between February 1977 and September 1980. He was not a champion, but won many important races and defeated many of the best racehorses of his era including Exceller and John Henry. He was unraced as a two-year-old and won three minor races as a three-year-old in 1977. In the following year he showed much-improved form, winning seven races including the Fort Marcy Handicap, Edgemere Handicap, Bowling Green Handicap and Tidal Handicap as well as finishing second in the Washington D C International. In 1979 he raced in California, winning the San Marcos Handicap and San Antonio Handicap on dirt and the San Juan Capistrano Handicap on turf. He also finished second to Affirmed in that year's Santa Anita Handicap. As a six-year-old he won the Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap and a second Tidal Handicap before he sustained a career-ending injury in September.

A tiller is a stem produced by grass plants, and refers to all shoots that grow after the initial parent shoot grows from a seed. Tillers are segmented, each segment possessing its own two-part leaf. They are involved in vegetative propagation and, in some cases, also seed production.

"Tillering" refers to the production of side shoots and is a property possessed by many species in the family Poaceae. This enables them to produce multiple stems (tillers) starting from the initial single seedling. This ensures the formation of dense tufts and multiple seed heads. Tillering rates are heavily influenced by soil water status. When soil moisture is low, grasses tend to develop more sparse and deep root systems (as opposed to dense, lateral systems). Thus tillering is inhibited; the lateral nature of tillering is not supported by lateral root growth in dry soils.

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